As it All Unravels Around Us
by Rochelleteentitan
Summary: When did it all start to fall apart? Looking back, it was hard to pinpoint any specific moment. Is there any way to stop the unraveling once the thread has already been pulled? For the sake of their family, they both hoped so. Ichigo/Orihime
1. Chapter 1: Orihime

A/N: A new story! I have nothing going on this summer so I figured, why not write another story? Not an AU for once, so we'll see how I do with the action scenes.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Sometimes, Orihime wondered why Ichigo married her in the first place. Was he just doing what he felt he was expected to do? Was he just looking for a mother for Akihiro and she was conveniently there? She tried to shake herself out of that thought. No. He had loved her. But when did it all start to go wrong?

Looking back at it all now, she really had no one to blame for her current predicament besides herself. Ichigo had so many responsibilities, with his constant need to save the world and all. But she had thought that as his wife and the mother of his children, he would recognize that he had responsibilities to her too. But he didn't. Which is why he was never here, constantly spending all his time in Soul Society averting some crisis or another.

The married mother of three (soon to be four as she just found out she was two months pregnant) lowered her eyes in shame as she realized she had slipped into self-pity. But she didn't just feel sorry for herself, she felt sorry for the kids.

Based on how this relationship started, she should have known there was bound to be heartache and tragedy. You see, it all started when Ichigo's fiancée died tragically…

_Flash back_

_Orihime adjusted the casserole she was holding as she hesitated to ring the doorbell. Was this weird? They weren't really friends anymore. With the lack of hollows and the completion of high school, the whole group had largely lost touch. Ichigo had gone to college in Tokyo, and Orihime stayed in Karakura and took a full ride to the local university. A few e-mails and Christmas cards were exchanged over the years, but no meaningful relationship. _

_ Despite their lack of a relationship, that didn't stop her heart from breaking when she heard from Tatsuki that Ichigo was having a baby with his college sweetheart. Although she had dated here and there, as pathetic as it was Orihime was still waiting for Ichigo after all these years. She was madly in love with him, and she couldn't even fathom loving anyone else. _

_ But he loved someone else. Her name was Otaka Mari. She was a chemistry major who was from Osaka. Orihime had gathered all this information through facebook stalking her. Of course, Orihime had noticed when Ichigo's relationship status changed from 'single' to 'in a relationship with Otaka Mari', but she had wanted to believe it wasn't serious. But as usual, her delusions did not come to fruition._

_ Orihime had met Mari once. Ichigo and Mari had gotten engaged once they found out about the pregnancy and he had brought her back to Karakura to meet his family and friends. Orihime didn't want to go to the engagement party, but Tatsuki had insisted. _

_ "You need to realize this is actually happening Orihime. You can't live in denial. He has a life and soon he'll have a family. It's time for you to start looking for someone else."_

_ Orihime knew Tatsuki was right, but that didn't make it any easier to drag herself to the Kurosaki household and meet the woman who was having Ichigo's child. _

_ By the time Tatsuki and Orihime had made it to the party, (Orihime dragging her feet the whole way), the party was in full swing. It was almost like a high school reunion with some close friends from Soul Society thrown in. It was nice to have all her friends back in one place again. She even managed to enjoy herself for a moment. Until she saw them together. _

_ "Inoue!" Ichigo called as he maneuvered through the crowd with his fiancée. _

_ Orihime had been laughing at Keigo's and Mizuiro's antics but all mirth died on her lips as she saw Ichigo and Mari approaching hand in hand. She quickly forced a smile onto her face so they wouldn't notice that she was beginning to crumble. _

_ "Kurosaki-kun! It is so good to see you!"_

_ Orihime awkwardly went in for a hug, forgetting that Ichigo wasn't really a physical contact type of person. The two redheads hugged briefly. "And this is my fiancée Otaka Mari." Ichigo introduced. _

_ "Nice to meet you Otaka-san. You're glowing!" Orihime greeted merrily as she looked at Mari's protruding stomach. She hoped she didn't seem disingenuous._

_ Mari smiled. She has a pretty smile, Orihime couldn't help but notice. She was a pretty girl. Mari was a little taller than Orihime, probably 5'4, slender build, black hair, and light brown eyes. _

_ 'She kind of looks like Rukia. So I guess he has a type. And its definitely not me.'_

_ Ichigo, Mari, and Orihime talked briefly before the pair had to set off to greet more guests. Tatsuki had been watching the interaction and sidled up to her best friend once the engaged couple left. "So, what do you think of her?"_

_ Orihime shrugged. "She seems nice. And I'm glad Kurosaki-kun is happy."_

_ "Now it's time for you to be happy too. Next time someone asks you out, I don't want you to make up some excuse for why you can't go. It's time to find someone else,"_

_ Orihime watched as Ichigo placed both hands on Mari's stomach and smiled at her. She couldn't think of a time the substitute shinigami had ever smiled like that at her. She lowered her eyes. "I'll try Tatsuki-chan"_

_ Orihime shook herself out of her thoughts and readjusted the casserole once again. Poor Mari. She was so young. But at least the baby had survived. Orihime liked to think that the baby's survival gave Mari some peace._

_ Orihime finally rang the bell. For several moments, she waited. Just as she was about to ring the bell again, the door opened to reveal a very disheveled Kurosaki Ichigo. _

_ He looked like he hadn't slept in the week since Akihiro had been born. There were dark circles underneath his eyes and his hair was all over the place. The baby was in his arms and crying loudly. _

_ "Inoue." He greeted. Even his voice sounded tired._

_ "Kurosaki-kun." She greeted in return. "I….I made you some casserole."_

_ "Anything weird in it?" He asked with a small smirk, yawning as he leaned against the doorway and tried to pacify Akihiro._

_ "No. Just cheese, spinach, and chicken. I wanted to make sure it was something you would eat." She replied. _

_ "Alright. I'd take it from you but my hands are kind of full. Can you put it in the fridge with the rest of the food?"_

_ She nodded and headed toward the kitchen. Ichigo followed behind her, patting his still crying son's back. _

_ "How are you holding up?" Orihime asked after a prolonged moment of awkward silence. _

_ Ichigo shrugged. "As well as could be expected. You know, with my fiancée dying giving birth to my abnormally spiritually powerful son and all." He finished bitterly._

_ Orihime bit her lip. That was a stupid question. She tried to think of something else to say. Suddenly, the phone rang. Ichigo walked over and checked the caller ID. "Shit. It's my boss. Can you take him for a second? I really need to take this call."_

_ He didn't really wait for a response from her before shoving the crying baby into her arms and hurrying off into the next room to take the call. _

_ Orihime looked down at the fussy infant in her arms. "Hi." She greeted the child. He has Ichigo's eyes. And black hair that was either inherited from his mother or possibly his grandfather. _

_ "I'm sorry about what happened to your mommy. You know, I can't remember my biological mother either. But I had my brother. And you have Kurosaki-kun and your grandfather and your aunts Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan…"_

_ The baby continued to cry, possibly wailing even louder than before. _

_ "Shhh…..It's okay." She started to rock the baby. When this failed to placate him, she started to hum a tune Sora used to use as a lullaby for her. The baby started to quiet. _

_ She readjusted the baby so his head rested against her bountiful chest and continued to sway to and from. She added words to the lullaby and sang softly as the baby's cries finally subsided._

_ "I think this is the first time he's stopped crying." Ichigo commented. _

_ Orihime was surprised that Ichigo had re-entered the kitchen without her noticing. She was embarrassed that he had caught her singing and she quieted immediately._

_ When the baby started to whimper, Orihime quickly restarted her song. Akihiro gurgled happily. _

_ Ichigo approached the two. "I think he likes you."_

_ Orihime went back to humming but stopped momentarily to respond. "You think so?"_

_ He nodded. "Do you think…could you keep coming by? I'm having a really hard time. Dad is so busy with the clinic and Yuzu and Karin have college. And I'm still trying to come to terms with what I did to Mari…"_

_ Orihime interrupted him. "You didn't do anything to Mari Kurosaki-kun. It's not your fault what happened. There was no way you could have known how reiatsu affects childbirth. Don't blame yourself."_

_ He scoffed. "Easier said than done."_

_ Orihime gazed at Akihiro. "I'll try to stop by as much as possible. I'm interviewing and looking for a real job on top of working at the bakery so sometimes I'm really busy-"_

_ "Would you be interested in being Akihiro's nanny? You got your major in childhood education right? Being a nanny would look great on your resume." Ichigo interrupted._

_ Orihime took Ichigo up on his offer and became Akihiro's live-in nanny. She became very close to Akihiro, treating him like she would treat her own child. Spending so much time with the Kurosakis eventually led to Orihime and Ichigo becoming a couple. By the time Akihiro turned two, they were married and Orihime legally adopted Akihiro. _

_ Orihime wanted more children desperately, but Ichigo was afraid. She didn't blame him after what happened to Mari. But she constantly reminded him that she had reiatsu of her own, that her life was in no danger. She even consulted Urahara who confirmed that everything should be fine. _

_ When Akihiro was two and a half, after lots of tense discussions and tears on her part, Ichigo finally relented. Their son Tsuyoshi was born with no complications. Tsuyoshi was Ichigo's miniature with Orihime's grey eyes. He smiled a lot more than his father, but when he scowled the resemblance was uncanny. Two years after Tsuyoshi, their daughter Kaya was born. Kaya had inherited green eyes from somewhere in one of their lines and Orihime's auburn hair and big doe eyes._

The pair had three healthy, happy children. Orihime had finally launched her career and was now working as a pre-school teacher. In the human world, Ichigo worked for his father, helping run the clinic from a business side. But his real career was in Soul Society, where he was now captain of the thirteenth division since Ukitake had stepped down. He was the first human to ever become a captain in Soul Society.

Orihime was proud of her husband and all his accomplishments, but she couldn't help but lament on how little he was around. He was in Soul Society for months at a time, which was actually a lot longer when one takes into account the difference in time between the two worlds. And in many cases, the wars Ichigo was so committed to fighting in could have been resolved without him.

When he was around, he was a wonderful father. But his time in the human world was becoming more and more rare. Orihime sniffled as she thought of how this was going to affect their children.

'I'm not going to cry. I've already wasted way too many tears over him.'

She wiped at her eyes and forced a smile on her face as she heard the small pitter-patter of feet coming down the stairs.

Kaya jumped off the last step and immediately hugged Orihime. The 5 year old was very attached to her mother. "Morning mommy!" She chimed sweetly.

Orihime kissed her daughter's forehead. "Good morning baby."

The house shook as her two boisterous sons stomped down the stairs, shoving and fighting as usual.

"Owww! You stepped on my foot Tsuyoshi!" Akihiro yelled, the 10 year old glaring at his little brother.

"Well, you shouldn't have pushed me!" Her 7 year-old son scowled angrily, reminding her painfully of his look-a-like father.

"I only pushed you because you clearly saw I was on my way downstairs but you ran to get in front of me!"

"Who cares? You would have gotten here 2 seconds earlier. Big deal."

"If it wasn't a big deal than why did you do it?"

The two continued to argue and Orihime sighed. The competitiveness between the two was starting to get completely out of control. She wondered whether some of the tension between the two had anything to do with the fact that they did not often have a father figure around.

Akihiro had a very short fuse, another feature inherited from his father, and he threw a punch at his younger brother.

Before Orihime could intervene, Tsuyoshi took things into his own hands. "Barra, Yuko, Kotoe, Ai, Shiten Kōshun!"

As Akihiro's fist collided with the shield the force dispelled from the shield instantly knocked him back.

Akihiro growled as he rose from the floor.

"Kurosaki Tsuyoshi!"

Tsuyoshi winced. That tone coming from his mother meant he was in big trouble. "He started it!" He tried a last ditch effort to defend himself.

"You both need to apologize. Right now!" Orihime demanded.

"Gomen" both boys mumbled without making eye contact.

Orihime looked at Tsuyoshi, obviously disappointed in her son, before checking Akihiro's hand. She summoned her healing shield silently and Akihiro's hand was as good as new in no time. She kissed Akihiro's forehead before backing away from her oldest child.

"What did I say about using your powers on your siblings?" Orihime asked.

Tsuyoshi shuffled his feet guiltily and refused to meet his mother's eyes. "You said not to use them at all unless it's an emergency." Tsuyoshi answered. He guiltily rubbed his snowflake shaped birthmark on his wrist.

Kaya had a birthmark shaped like Orhime's hairpins as well, but her's was on the back of her neck. Both Kaya and Tsuyoshi had some amount of control over their Shun Shun Rikka. They still had to call out their powers name by name, but it seemed that their powers got stronger daily. They could both heal small injuries, like a scrapped knee, and Orihime had recently started teaching Tsuyoshi some offensive techniques so he could defend himself if the need ever arose.

Akihiro seemed to resent that at the moment all he could do was see ghosts and hollows, not fight them. Whenever the siblings were attacked and Tsuyoshi or Kaya had to protect him, he was embarrassed. He wanted to be able to defend himself and protect his siblings. He was the oldest; he should be the most powerful. Although he thought of Orihime as his mom, he knew she wasn't his biological mother. His parents had never tried to hide this from him; Ichigo had even given him photos of his biological mother Mari.

Ichigo had taken him to Soul Society from time to time so he knew about shinigami and hollows. Orihime thought he was too young to activate his shinigami powers, but Ichigo disagreed. It was a major source of contention between his parents.

Orihime was about to lecture Tsuyoshi some more, but the screen linking her home to soul society beeping interrupted her.

"Daddy is calling!" Kaya exclaimed excitedly, hurrying to sit in front of the screen. Tsuyoshi and Akihiro hurried behind her, fighting over who would get the coveted middle spot.

Orihime answered the call and the static transformed into an image of Ichigo. He was in his office and he was wearing his captain's haori.

"Daddy!" Kaya waved excitedly at the screen.

"Hey Kaya. Have you gotten bigger since last week?" Ichigo asked.

The conversation continued, with Ichigo asking about how they were doing in school, lecturing Akihiro when Tsuyoshi excitedly revealed that Akihiro had failed his math test, praising Tsuyoshi since he had recently used Shiten Kōshen for the first time, than promptly lecturing him when Akihiro complained that Tsuyoshi had used it on him, and other such mundane topics. Orihime remained silent throughout the conversation, feeling she had nothing to add.

Orihime checked her watch. "Kids, its almost time for school. I left breakfast on the table. You need to go eat."

The kids stood and after exchanging goodbyes with their fathers went into the kitchen to eat. Orihime leaned against the couch and regarded Ichigo on the screen.

"You seem mad." Her husband observed, resting his chin in his hand warily.

"I'm more frustrated than mad."

"I'm frustrated too Orihime. It's not like I'm enjoying being here for so long dealing with Soul Society's new enemy. But they're dangerous and we need to contain then now. Yesterday, I fought against once of their lieutenants, he had a really interesting technique…"

Orihime zoned out as Ichigo excitedly detailed the fight. For someone 'not enjoying being in Soul Society for so long', he sounded pretty enthused at the moment.

When Orihime zoned back in, Ichigo was still talking about the battle. "I finally managed to finish him off with a Tetsuga Genshou, but then more came in and-"

"I'm pregnant." Orihime interrupted.

He paused as he absorbed the news. "So you're…" He mentally thought back to when he had last been home "two months pregnant?" He asked.

She nodded.

"And you're sure?"

"I went to the clinic and your father confirmed it. He is very excited."

"Okay."

He didn't sound very enthused. But then again, neither was she. Money was tight. It's not like Ichigo was making money in Soul Society that had any value in the material world. And on top of their financial situation, their relationship was obviously very rocky at the moment.

"I….don't think this is…working." She had been thinking it for months, but she was surprised it had slipped out of her mouth.

He frowned. "What's not working?"

"We're not working. This relationship. This family." She elaborated sadly.

There was absolute silence from his side of the line. It was so quiet she could hear Akihiro's, Tsuyoshi's, and Kaya's conversation from the kitchen.

"We're not going to have this conversation over a screen." He finally responded.

Orihime didn't respond. She looked at him as he shifted uncomfortably in his office chair.

"I have some loose ends to tie up here, but I'm going to come home today. We're going to talk about this."

Orihime rolled her eyes. He had said he was coming home so many times all ready and something always came up at the last moment.

He caught the eye roll. His eyes narrowed and he leaned closer to the screen. "I'm serious Orihime."

"I have to get the kids to school."

She cut the connection.

A/N: Well there is the end of Chapter 1. This is already more depressing than I intended. But it does seem realistic knowing Ichigo's character. Orihime might have more patience than she does here, but who knows?

Please review and tell me what you thought! I'll try to update again soon!


	2. Chapter 2: Ichigo

A/N: Here is chapter 2! Thank you to all my reviewers, favers, and alerters!

…

_Two Months Ago_

"_Ohayo Taicho." A lower 13__th__ seat member greeted as Ichigo passed his desk on his way out of the 13__th__ squad barracks. _

"_Yo." Ichigo returned as he continued on his way to the Senkaimon Gate. _

_He was finally on his way home. For the last month, he and the rest of the Gotei 13 Protection Squad had been fighting against rouge mod souls. Obviously, they weren't a super powerful enemy, but they were quite numerous. Once the enemy had been defeated, the captains and vice captains had to come to a decision on what to do with the mod souls. Most had wanted to destroy them, arguing that it was the most efficient course of action. _

_But Ichigo remembered Kon, and he couldn't help but feel compassion for the mod souls. He managed to convince the Protection Squads to rehabilitate them instead of destroying them._

_Where was Kon, anyway? Once he had his substitute shinigami badge he no longer had use for the mod soul. He vaguely remembered leaving the lion plushy in his closet at his dad's home. That was years ago. He winced once he thought of the ear fill he would get from Kon if the need ever arose to use him again. _

_Akihiro could use Kon. Ichigo felt it was high time Akihiro learned about his shinigami powers. Obviously, he wouldn't let Urahara train his son since his methods were…questionable, but if he were to do the training himself he really saw no problem with it. All his children had very strong reiatsu, and although he had charms created for each of them that controlled the outflow there was no way to hide it completely. Kaya and Tsuyoshi had their shields and offensive techniques that could take out small hollows, but Akihiro was completely vulnerable. _

'_I'll bring it up with Orihime tomorrow.' The shinigami captain decided once he reached Soul Society's Senkaimon Gate. He passed through with no issue and hopped out of the gate above Karakura Town._

_He landed gracefully on a nearby rooftop and flash stepped rooftop to rooftop on his way home. Although he had left Soul Society in the morning it was nighttime here in the material world so he enjoyed the cool night breeze on his journey home._

_Soon he reached his neighborhood. It was a nice neighborhood with lots of families. It was also located conveniently close to his child hood home so his children saw their grandfather frequently. It was a modest house, only three bedrooms so Akihiro and Tsuyoshi had to share, but it was comfortable and homey._

_He briefly searched through his Shinigami Robes for his house keys before determining they must be with his physical body. He jumped up to his window, which was wide open, despite how many times he had told Orihime it was dangerous. He swiftly climbed through the window and saw that his wife was sound asleep in bed. _

_He scanned the room for his physical body. Early in the marriage when he would go to Soul Society for a few days at a time, his body would be waiting for him in bed when he returned. Usually, he would find Orihime in bed cuddling with his physical body. But now, his body would be propped up in a chair in the corner or something. _

_He looked through all the corners, stubbing his toe in the dark and stifling a curse, but had no luck finding his body. Ichigo scowled and scratched the back of his head, confused. _

_Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the closet door was shut. Which was odd since Orihime tended to leave the door open. He padded over to the closet and slid the door open. He frowned. His body was haphazardly sitting on the closet floor, halfway leaning against the wall. _

_Ichigo threw an exasperated look at the still sleeping Orihime. A month in that position obviously wasn't going to be good for his back. He lifted his body and slipped back into it. As he expected, his back was sore._

_He settled into bed behind Orihime, wrapping an arm around her. _

_She stirred. "Ichigo-kun?" She asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes before turning over to face him._

"_Hey." he greeted once he met her gaze. She smiled. "Any reason why my body was in the closet?" _

"_It's eerie to have your body just laying around in plain sight when you're not here." She explained. _

"_Well, you used to just leave it in bed. When I'm gone it kind of looks like I'm sleeping anyway so-"_

"_And _you _only used to be gone for a couple of days at a time." She interrupted, placing extra emphasis on the 'you'._

"_Fine. Whatever." He relented._

_He sighed and allowed his anger and tension to dissipate. Then he ran a hand through her silky auburn hair. "I missed you." He confessed before leaning in for a kiss. _

_She allowed him to kiss her but she didn't really respond. When he pulled away, she muttered, "Then you should have come home."_

_He sighed angrily and flopped down on the bed, facing the ceiling instead of his wife. "Can we not fight right now? I literally just got home and we're already fighting."_

_He took her silence as agreement and leaned in for another kiss. After a month apart, it quickly became heated and he reached to undo the tie on her pajama pants. She broke away so he trailed kisses down her throat. "Stop. We can't. I don't remember if I took my birth control pills." She admitted as she tried to push him away. _

_He groaned in frustration. It had been a month and he had needs. "Why wouldn't you be taking them regularly?" He complained. _

"_Because you're never home so I don't usually need them." She retorted. _

_He chose to ignore that snide comment. "Well, we're going to have to risk it." With that said, he quickly liberated her of the rest of her clothes._

Present Day

….

"Yo, Ichigo! Are you leaving right now? There's paperwork due tomorrow!" Renji warned as he saw Ichigo stalking toward the Senkaimon Gate.

"Whatever. I'm not worried about Yamamoto. I've got to get home." Ichigo replied without bothering to look behind him.

"You're finally going home? Good! I don't understand what man leaves a wife that looks like Orihime alone for that long. You've got to keep an eye on women that look like that!" Rangiku chimed as Ichigo passed the patio of the bar where she was drinking.

Ichigo grumbled. "Why are all you guys out here anyway? Don't you have work to do? Out here harassing me….no-one asked for any of your opinions."

Rukia was out for a walk with her brother and spotted Ichigo. "He's finally going back to the material world, about time right nii-sama? I mean, he's basically a deadbeat father at this point. I can't even remember the last time he brought the kids here to visit."

Ichigo's forehead vein throbbed. "I can hear you! And don't forget that I'm your captain! You can't speak negatively about me." His tone was dark and clearly enraged.

Rukia scoffed. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize a vice-captain loses her right to free speech." She retorted sarcastically.

Ichigo waited impatiently as the Senkaimon gates opened. "Can't wait to get away from you guys. Nosy bastards…." He muttered just before going through the gate.

….

Ichigo hesitated outside the door to his home. He didn't feel ready for this at all. He had already changed back into his physical body, which he was now leaving at his father's home in his childhood bed when he went to Soul Society. Isshin of course raved and ranted about his son neglecting his grandchildren by being gone for so long. Ichigo mostly ignored him Of course, he hadn't told Isshin about his marital problems. He didn't need his idiot old man giving him any advice. He would handle this himself.

But looking back at it now, maybe he should have confided in his father. Because he had no idea what he was about to say to his wife and he had already been standing in front of the door for 15 minutes.

Suddenly, the door swung open and he was staring at his wife. "I can feel your reiatsu." She answered his silent question of how she knew he was there.

He was so preoccupied he hadn't even noticed he wasn't hiding his reiatsu. But then again, she could often sense his reiatsu even when he was trying to hide it.

She had once told him that she could sense his reiatsu the easiest out of all their spiritually powerful friends. For him, her's was the first reiatsu he could sense period. Now, he had much better sensing ability, but locating her's was still the easiest.

She leaned against the doorway. "Are you going to come in?" She asked softly.

He walked past his wife into the house before stopping and standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. When did this house stop feeling like home?

"I was making some tea. Do you want some?" She tried to walk past him into the kitchen, but he reached out and stopped her by gripping her wrist.

"Let's not pretend everything is fine and you're a merry housewife. You basically told me you wanted a divorce this morning."

She freed her wrist from his grasp. "Alright. I was going to welcome you home but if you want to jump right into this we can." She walked off toward the living room and he trailed behind her.

She sat on the couch. He considered sitting beside her but changed his mind at the last moment and took the armchair across from her. Orihime halfheartedly tried to clean up the coffee table in front of her, stacking magazines and brushing old crumbs from the kids' snacks onto the floor.

"Sorry it's such a mess. I wasn't really expecting you…"

Ouch. That hurt. Did she really think he cared that little about this family? "I told you I was coming home. This is more important than anything I have going on in Soul Society."

"Well, that's a first." Orihime quipped.

"All your snide comments aren't getting us anywhere." Ichigo replied.

Orihime sighed warily. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Ichigo settled into the armchair and leaned forward, interlinking his hands. "So, you don't want to be married anymore." Ichigo accused, trying to hide how hurtful this was to him.

Orihime frowned and furrowed her brows. "I wouldn't say _I'm _the one who doesn't want to be married."

Ichigo scowled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You seem to have absolutely no interest in being a husband or a father." Orihime clarified.

"That's bull shit! Everything I do is for you and the kids. Don't you see that I'm trying to protect you? I want Karakura to be safe for everyone." He countered.

"You're never here."

"Please forgive me Orihime. I'm so sorry that I have these powers and that I have a responsibility to keep this town safe. I really should just spend all my time here working at the clinic and cleaning the house and living a normal life." His statement dripped with contention.

"You know what your problem is?" Orihime asked, glaring daggers at her husband.

"Please enlighten me!" Ichigo yelled.

"You think you are being selfless but you're honestly the most selfish person I know!" By this point, she was yelling as well.

"And how am I selfish? How about you start bringing forth some concrete examples instead of insulting my character with no basis whatsoever."

"Well, where do I start? Well for starters, you act like everyone in Soul Society is incompetent besides you. But somehow, they managed for thousands of years without your help. Yes, you're strong and having you involved might help the crisis resolve faster, but they could do it without you. You are in Soul Society because _you_

would rather be there. Obviously a normal life bores you. Which is fine, but if that's what you wanted why did you marry me and have kids? As a husband and a father, you have responsibilities here at home and you don't even care!" Tears were streaming down her face, but she definitely seemed more angry than sad.

"I do care! But we're not meant to have a normal life. There are countless examples of situations in Soul Society where it was completely necessary for me to fight. Aizen, the Quincies…"

"That was years ago! Can you think of one recent situation where you _had _to be there?" She interrupted.

"Actually, yes I can! Maybe if you ever listened to anything that I say you would know and-"

"Well excuse me if it's hard to listen while I'm basically a single mother here alone with three kids who act out because they miss you and-"

"Don't blame the issues between Akihiro and Tsuyoshi on me! Akihiro hates having to depend on Tsuyoshi for protection and that's all your fault! I'm his father and if I think he's ready then-"

"And I'm his mother and he's only 10! He doesn't need to be involved in all this Shinigami stuff although you clearly can't see that because-"

Ichigo didn't know if he had ever been this mad at his normally sweet tempered wife. This didn't even seem like the woman he married. So before he could think better of it, he threw something out that he _knew _would hurt her.

"Well, you're not his real mother so as Akihiro's _actual father-"_

His face stung from the force of her slap. She was breathing heavily as she stared up at him ('When did we both stand up?' He wondered distractedly) with tear filled eyes.

"How dare you! I'm…I've been in his life since he was 1 week old and….and I'm with him more than you are!...And…how could you say something like that to me?" The anger had dissipated from her voice now. The tears wouldn't stop falling down her face.

He couldn't believe he had taken such a low blow. And she was crying. And he had made her cry. And he _loved her_ and she wanted to leave him and he was doing nothing to make her change her mind.

He reached out for her, but she flinched away from his touch. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I just don't think before I-" She refused to meet his gaze.

"I don't want to do this anymore. You make me upset and its bad for the baby." She absentmindedly rubbed her still flat abdomen.

His eyes followed her hand. God. What were they doing? They had four kids to think about. He owed it to his children to fix this.

"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to upset you. Let's both sit down. We need to talk about this like adults in order to resolve this." He stated.

She remained standing. "Ichigo-kun, there is no resolution for this. I want to be with someone who wants to be with me. Who enjoys having a family and wants to spend time with Akihiro, Tsuyoshi, and Kaya. You will always be their father, but I feel like I owe it to them to find them a better Dad."

He felt like she had stabbed him. How could she say something like that to him? She wanted to replace him? She had basically called him disposable. He clenched his fists, trying to stifle his urge to punch something.

"You knew how I was before you married me."

"I did." She admitted.

"But now all of a sudden, I'm not good enough?"

She sighed, clearly exasperated with this conversation. "That's not what I said."

He continued as if she hadn't said anything. "You can't go back now and have a do- over. They're _my _kids. You might wish they weren't, but they are."

"I'm not trying to kick you out of their lives."

"That's exactly what you're trying to do."

"I'm trying to make a decision for _me_. I never signed on to be a single mom. And you keep putting your life in danger with no consideration for what would happen to the kids and me if you were gone. I don't want to do this alone anymore."

"You don't have to do this alone! I'll come home more. Hell, I'll step down from Soul Society and be here full time if that's what you want."

"You don't get it Ichigo-kun. I don't want you to do it because it's what _I_ want, it should be what _you_ want."

"What _I want _is you. I love you." Their gazes met for a poignant moment before Orihime broke the eye contact.

"Actions speak louder than words." She finally murmured after several moments of silence.

"I don't want a divorce Orihime. We're a family. We have three, soon to be four kids. Don't do this." Ichigo pleaded.

"Don't put this all on me. You've been acting like you don't want a family so I'm just giving you what you want." She stood up and smoothed down the white sundress she was wearing. "How long are you here for?" She asked.

He had only been planning on staying for the day, but now he had to change his plans. He wasn't going to lose his family. He would have to remind her what a good father he is. "I'm home for the month." He answered.

She tried to hide her surprise, but he could see it. "Well, I think you should stay at your dad's house for the month. Of course, feel free to come over anytime to see the kids."

"So, are you filing?" He dreaded the answer, but he had to ask.

She looked down at the ground. "Not right away. I don't want to have to deal with a divorce and a pregnancy at the same time."

That was a weak excuse. Obviously, she wasn't completely sold on this whole divorce thing. He almost wanted to smile, but he held it back. He wasn't out of the woods yet. He would have to walk on eggshells to make sure he didn't push her to the point where she would file.

"But I do plan to see other people." She added.

If he had been smiling, that would have immediately wiped it off his face. "You plan to see other men while you're pregnant with _our_ child?" The question was teeming with judgment.

"I'm not going to put my life on hold for the next 7 to 8 months." She replied.

"Well, I don't plan to see anyone else. Because I love you and I love my children and we're going to work this out." He stated with the upmost conviction.

Her expression at his words was unreadable, but he hoped she knew he meant it. And he also hoped she would reconsider her plans to see other people.

He sensed three familiar spiritual pressures outside the door. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that school had ended 20 minutes prior so the kids were arriving home. Akihiro opened the door (being the eldest he was in charge of the key) and spotted his father.

His entire face lit up. "Dad!" He launched himself into his father's arms, almost knocking Ichigo over with his zealousness. Ichigo ruffled his dark hair affectionately.

"Daddy!" Kaya and Tsuyoshi exclaimed in unison before launching themselves at their father as well.

He managed to wrap all three of his children into a group hug. "I'm home."

…..

Like it? Hate it? Let me know by reviewing! I'll try to update again soon!

Reviewer Responses:

ladycifer: I'm glad Orihime's behavior is understandable! I was worried she was out of character.

Mayuka: Well, we're still pretty far from the ending, but it will definitely take time to fix this messed up relationship.

Misha: Thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Ermilus: Thank you! Right now, they are still at a down point, but now there's nowhere to go but up!

LuvleeCookieChan: Thank you! Here is the update and I'll try to update again soon!


	3. Chapter 3: Akihiro

A/N: Here is Chapter 3! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

….

Akihiro tried to ignore the sniffles coming from his mother as he packed his clothes into his carry-on. He had to fight his urge to roll his eyes. They were only going to be gone for a week!

True, it would be the first time the Kurosaki siblings would spend more than a day away from their mother, but he still felt crying was a little over the top. Furthermore, he was excited to spend a full week with his father.

Three weeks ago, his mom and dad has sat all the kids down and explained that Ichigo wouldn't be living in the house anymore. His mom had called it a 'separation'. His dad had just said they were taking a 'break'. Either way, Akihiro wasn't surprised. He was a very observant child and he had seen this coming for months.

Akihiro and Tsuyoshi took it pretty well. Sure, they would like their family to remain intact, but you don't always get what you want. Besides, their mom deserved to be happy. If Dad was happy in Soul Society, then she had no choice but to find someone else more interested in the material world.

Kaya had cried. Which had made Mom cry. Which had made Dad very upset since the tears of the two women in his life was probably his only weakness.

But there was an upside to this whole divorce thing. For one, his Dad was here in the material world for a whole month. Akihiro was pretty sure the last time his Dad had been around for such a long period of time was when he was five. The Kurosaki patriarch stopped by the house every day after school to see his kids. Sometimes, he would take them to the park or the mall or the movies. It was great. Every so often they would spend the night at Grandpa Isshin's, where their father was living.

But now, they were spending a whole week with their father at the beach. The kids were all really excited. Their mom, not so much.

She sniffled again. Akihiro zipped his suitcase closed and approached his mom, who was leaning against his doorway observing him. "Its just a week Mom. You'll be fine." Akihiro consoled.

"All my babies are leaving me." She complained.

Akihiro's eyes drifted to her stomach, which had just started to grow. "Well, not all…"

Orihime's expression reflected her surprise. "How did you know? Have I gained a lot of weight?"

Akihiro smirked, "When you were pregnant with Kaya all of a sudden you stopped eating red bean paste, which normally you love. And you're avoiding red bean paste again." He explained.

Orihime smiled. "When did you get so smart?"

Akihiro shrugged. "Must be good genes. And good parenting."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was waiting for a better time. I didn't really want to follow up the separation announcement with a pregnancy announcement." Orihime explained.

"I get it. I'm not mad or anything." Akihiro assured.

Orihime sometimes forgot how mature and smart Akhiro was. He often reminded her more of a 16 year old than a 10 year old. He definitely inherited his father's seriousness.

"Akihiro-kun…"

Akihiro had been packing up his backpack but he turned toward her when his mom called.

"How are you doing, with this whole divorce thing?" Orihime asked nervously.

Akihiro shrugged. "Fine, I guess. I wasn't too surprised." He paused in his packing. "But I do have one question."

"What baby?" Orihime asked.

"How are _you _doing? Are you okay?" Akihiro redirected her question.

Orihime smiled. He was always so concerned about her. In that way, he reminded her a lot of his father back in their high school days.

She ruffled his dark hair affectionately. "I will be."

Their moment was interrupted when the middle Kurosaki child walked into the room he shared with his older brother, dragging his suitcase behind him. "Moooom….."He whined, "I hate packing. Can you do it for me?"

….

….

As soon as the doorbell rang, Akihiro, Tsuyoshi, and Kaya ran downstairs to greet their father. In her haste, Kaya had left her suitcase upstairs which allowed her to reach the door first. She jumped into her father's arms as soon as the door was open.

Tsuyoshi and Akihiro dropped their suitcases near the door and each hugged their father when their turn came.

"Orihime let me carry that." Ichigo proclaimed once he noticed she was carrying Kaya's suitcase down the stairs.

"It's not heavy, I've got it." Orihime rebutted but Ichigo had already entered the house and was on his way up the stairs to take the suitcase.

Orihime handed over the small pink suitcase, and Ichigo noticed something. He frowned. "You're not wearing your wedding ring."

Orihime looked at her estranged husband blankly, "Of course I'm not. We're separated." She reminded him.

"Well, obviously I know that. But we're still married. If we were divorced then you can not wear a ring, but I'm still your husband."

"What do you think a separation is? We're getting ready to get divorced, so why would I be wearing my ring?" Orihime retorted.

Akihiro could see his father's famous scowl become more pronounced. He was obviously getting very upset. Ichigo took a deep breath and allowed the matter to drop. He easily carried the suitcase down the stairs and then turned to his kids. "So, you guys ready to go?"

…

….

Akihiro awoke to the sound of seagulls outside his window on the family's third day at the beach. He stretched and dragged himself out of bed to stand at his window and enjoy the view of the beach. The weekend had been filled with surfing, sand castles, and beach volleyball. Akihiro was excited to see what they would do next.

At their rental beach house, Akihiro had his own room. Not having to share with Tsuyoshi was great, and they were fighting less since they didn't have to spend as much time together.

Akihiro threw on a pair of swimming trunks before hurrying down the steps. Ichigo was in the kitchen making pancakes. They were burning.

"Damn it. How does Yuzu make this look so easy?" Ichigo muttered to himself before throwing the pancake into the trash and starting over.

"Who cooks for you in Soul Society?" Akihiro asked.

Ichigo startled at the unexpected intrusion before recovering his cool. "Morning, sport. You've gotten really good at hiding your reiatsu. I didn't sense you at all."

Akihiro glowed at his father's praise. "I've been working on it. I hate attracting hollows since I can't fight them."

Ichigo glanced at his son, "About that…"

Whatever Ichigo was going to say was interrupted when Tsuyoshi ran down the stairs carrying Kaya piggyback style. "Oi! Be careful with your little sister!" Ichigo yelled at his middle child.

"Relax, I've got her." Tsuyoshi insisted, jumping the last steps and somehow managing to keep his balance.

"What do you guys like in your pancakes?" Ichigo asked.

"Me and Yoshi-nii like red bean paste! But Aki-nii just likes his plain." Kaya responded excitedly.

"You're definitely your mother's daughter. I didn't bring any red bean paste, but how about blueberries?"

….

….

"I haven't been completely honest with you guys." Ichigo confessed over lunch.

Akihiro looked up from his sushi, while Tsuyoshi and Kaya stopped their fight over the last piece long enough to give their undivided attention to their father.

"This isn't just a family vacation to the beach. Tonight, we're going to Soul Society. I think its time you guys learned a little bit about being a Shinigami."

"But mommy said-" Kaya started to object.

"I know your mom thinks you guys should be older, but…there are dangerous things she doesn't know about. I can't go into detail, but I want you guys to be able to defend yourself. Especially you Akihiro." Ichigo explained.

Akihiro could barely contain his joy. This was it! After all these years of having to depend on his younger siblings, he was finally going to learn how to use his powers! "Can we go now?" Akihiro asked.

"Depends." Ichigo stated, "Does everyone swear not to tell Mom?"

…

….

"So, I just, pop it in my mouth?" Akihiro asked as he regarded the mod soul capsule.

"Yep, don't be nervous. You'll be fine." Ichigo assured.

"Don't be such a wimp Akihiro!" Tsuyoshi yelled from his spot under a tree with Kaya several meters away from father and son.

Ichigo glared at his younger son before returning his attention to the eldest. "Ready?"

Akihiro nodded. Before he could talk himself out of it, he shoved the capsule in his mouth and swallowed. He was immediately propelled from his physical body.

"Ichigo! You bastard! Leaving me for so long trapped in a closet! After all I've done for you. I can not believe you!" Kon tried to attack Ichigo, but this feat was difficult in the body of a ten year old.

"Oi! At least I left you in the plushy and not in your capsule form." Ichigo tried to defend himself.

"That was WORSE! For years, I languished in that closet. In my capsule form, I don't feel time passing. But in that plushy, I was aware of every boring moment. I screamed for help, but no one could hear me because you're disgusting and your closet is piled full of junk!" Kon yelled.

"Well, nothing I do now can change the past. Just be thankful you're in a human body now." Ichigo replied.

"You won't even apologize?" Kon asked, flabbergasted.

"Sorry." Ichigo's tone was insincere.

"A real apology!" Kon demanded.

"Whoa." Akihiro proclaimed as he watched himself, well technically Kon, attack his father.

His soft statement drew the attention of the two fighting males.

"Who's that?" Kon asked.

"My son, Akihiro." Ichigo answered.

"So, I'm in his body?" Kon slowly walked around Akihiro's soul form, appraising him from head to toe. "Well, at least he didn't inherit your freaky orange hair. This should make it much easier to hit on girls!" Kon exclaimed.

Kon noticed Kaya and Tsuyoshi under the tree. "Those yours too?"

Ichigo nodded.

Kon looked at Kaya. She looked familiar. Realization dawned on him suddenly. "You and Orihime-chan have kids together? You've seen and caressed the valley of the God-"

Ichigo quickly put his hand over Kon's, well technically Akihiro's mouth. "Not another word."

Kon freed himself. "Why don't you look like them?" He asked Akihiro.

"Well, biologically we're only half siblings." Akihiro explained.

Kon's eyes widened. "You cheated on Orihime and had a bastard child with some other woman? Do you have no morals?"

Ichigo's eye twitched. "Shut up! Clearly Akihiro is the oldest so how does that even make any sense?"

Kon and Ichigo continued to go at it so Akihiro decided to tune them out and focus on his new spiritual body.

He was wearing Shinigami robes just like his father. He checked his back and he had his very own Zanpakutu! He was disappointed to see his was not as large as his father's, but it would do.

Akihiro reached for the Zanpakutu and took a defensive stance.

Ichigo laughed when he noticed his son. "Slow down buddy. You have to crawl before you walk. First off, we're working on flash step."

…

…

"Yay! Go Aki-nii!" Kaya cheered on her big brother from Rukia's lap.

It was their last day in Soul Society. Akihiro was now proficient with his Zanpakutu, had mastered flash step, and had just successfully completed his first kidou spell.

"You've already surpassed your father in kidou Akihiro!" Rukia exclaimed happily.

Ichigo glared at her. "I can do basic kidou."

"I've seen you try. And no. You can't." Rukia insisted.

Tsuyoshi pouted. "Why can't I learn too?" He asked for probably the millionth time since they had been in Soul Society.

"Because you're only seven. And you can keep using the Shun Shun Rikka until you're at least ten. Besides, hasn't working with Hacchi here helped you and Kaya with both your offensive and defensive techniques?" Ichigo asked.

Tsuyoshi reluctantly nodded. "But it would still be better if I had a sword too!" He complained.

Akihiro grinned. After so many years of being jealous of Tsuyoshi's power, it was nice for the situation to be reversed.

Tsuyoshi noticed his brother's grin so he childishly stuck his tongue out at him. "Just wait until I turn 10…With Mom and Dad's powers, I'll be _way _stronger than you."

Akihiro solemnly swore to himself that he wouldn't let that happen. Although genetics was part of it, he wholeheartedly believed that determination played a big part in strength too.

Ichigo frowned at Tsuyoshi. "Don't say stuff like that to your brother."

"Half-brother." Tsuyoshi corrected.

Ichigo was about to teach Tsuyoshi some respect, but Akihiro tugged on his sleeve.

"Dad, when you and mom get divorced, where will I live?"

Ichigo frowned. "Well, first off I wouldn't say when, it's still more of an if. And you'll live in the same house you've been in since you were three years old."

"But, since Mom isn't really my mom, when- I mean if- you guys get divorced won't it be weird for me to live there?" Akihiro asked.

Ichigo knelt in front of his son so he could look him directly in the eyes. "Akihiro, just because Orihime isn't your biological mother doesn't mean she's not your mom. She loves you just as much as she loves Kaya and Tsuyoshi. You know that, right?"

Akihiro nodded.

"Then what would make you ask that?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know. It was just a question that came to mind when you guys said you were separating." Akihiro confessed.

Ichigo decided to let the matter drop for now, but this wasn't the end of this discussion. He checked his watch. "Your mom is expecting you guys back soon." He announced to his children. "Now we just have to figure out where Kon has run off to in Akihiro's body…."

Eventually they found Kon attempting to flirt with women in Soul Society who were clearly too old for Akihiro. They didn't seem interested. Ichigo taught Akihiro how to get back into his body and then handed his son the capsule, telling him to be very careful with it.

Just before entering the Senkaimon Gate to return to Karakura, Ichigo turned to his children. "So do we all solemnly swear that Mom never finds out about this?"

….

Please review!

Misha: Thank you for reviewing!

LuvleeCookieChan: Hope you still like where things are going. Soon, there should be some more action!

Xtremefairy: Thank you for the compliments! I'm glad the emotion was genuine.

Ermilus: I was a little worried about the argument so I'm glad you liked it!

ladycifer: Well, hopefully Ichigo can turn it around and be a good father. But only time will tell. : )

KAT: I love long reviews, so no need to apologize! And I'm glad you're liking this so far!

Guess: Here's the update! Hope you like it!


	4. Chapter 4: Mayuko: Blast from the Past

A/N: So many reviews! Thank you guys! Here is chapter 4, hope you enjoy!

…..

….

_5 years ago:_

"_Akihiro-kun! Please be careful!" Orihime called worriedly as she saw the 5 year old getting uncomfortably close to the sparring Academy students in Soul Society. _

_Akihiro heeded her warning and took a small step back, but he still remained absorbed in the training going on and soon drifted back to his original position right beside the sand arena. _

_The battle between the graduating students continued. One of the students, a small blonde girl, stealthily dodged a zanpakutu attack from her opponent, a tall male with buzzed black hair. _

"_Geki!" The blonde called forth the kidou spell that would have temporarily left her opponent paralyzed, but he responded with his own kidou spell. _

"_Seki!" He yelled, repelling the attack. But the blonde student had anticipated this and had flash stepped behind her opponent before the shield was enacted. _

_She rushed up to her opponent and pointed her zanpakutu to his back. "Gotcha." She stated confidently. _

"_Good job Kotoe, You pass. Welcome to the Gotei 13." Ichigo informed the blonde from his spot at the judging table. _

_She smiled excitedly and bowed to the shinigami overseeing the graduation exam. "Thank you Kurosaki-san." _

"_Better luck next year Hagashi." Renji informed the losing participant. _

_Hagashi looked disappointed, but he merely nodded and shook the winner's hand in a show of good sportsmanship. _

_Rukia shuffled through her papers before finding what she was looking for and placing the rest of the paperwork on the table. "Next pair, Kurtosshi versus Tagame."_

_The next pair of students walked out and prepared for battle. Akihiro continued to watch excitedly but Tsuyoshi, being only one and a half and having a very short attention span, began to get restless in his mother's arms. _

_Orihime tried to soothe the soon to be toddler, but he continued to squirm. Then, her unborn daughter began to kick and Orihime decided it was time to return to Ichigo's house in Soul Society. _

"_Akihiro, we have to get going." Orihime informed her eldest child. _

_He frowned. "'Why mommy? I want to watch."_

"_It's getting late." As if to confirm her statement, Tsuyoshi yawned loudly and then rested his head against his mother's chest. " We have to go."_

_Akihiro looked back to the fighting shinigami. "Can I stay with Dad?"_

"_He's busy sweetie." Orihime explained. _

_Akihiro visibly deflated. "Okay." He muttered in a defeated tone. _

_Orihime reached out a hand for Akihiro to hold as they headed to Ichigo's quarters in the 11__th__ squad barracks. _

…_._

…

_Orihime had put their sons to bed by the time Ichigo returned home from the Academy. She was dozing off on the couch when she heard him return home. She dragged herself off the couch to greet him. _

"_How were the rest of the battles?" Orihime asked. _

_Ichigo removed his shoes at the door. "They were good. I was really impressed at the level these students are at by the time they finish with the Academy. This one student, Yatumoto, he already has his Bankai."_

"_Oh" Orihime replied, rubbing her stomach as the baby continued to kick. _

_Ichigo noticed her movement and walked over to his wife, placing his hands on her stomach. He felt a weak kick. "How are you feeling? Isn't it a little early for the baby to be kicking?'" He frowned worriedly._

_Orihime smiled at his concern for her. "This happened when I was pregnant with Tsuyoshi too. I think when I'm in Soul Society, they feed off all the spiritual pressure and it makes them stronger." She explained. _

"_Would you ever consider moving to Soul Society permanently?" Ichigo asked suddenly, moving his hand higher up her stomach in an attempt to feel another kick. _

_Orihime frowned. "We've talked about this before…"_

"_I know, but a captain's position is about to open. Rukia says Ukitake is going to step down. And they want me to be the captain. So I'm going to switch from the 11__th__ to the 13__th__ division. It's a big raise in pay and they'll give me a bigger house in the 13__th__ squad barracks." Ichigo revealed._

_Orihime frowned and directed her gaze at the floor. "Ichigo-kun, I just want them to have the opportunity to have a normal life."_

"_They'll never be able to have a normal life Orihime."_

"_Well, as normal as it can be. You only get to live once Ichigo-kun. Eventually, hopefully many many years from now, they'll die and I know they'll all become very strong Shinigami. But right now, they're alive and they should be around other living people."_

"_If you moved here, it's not like we wouldn't ever return to Karakura. We could visit all the time." Ichigo wouldn't relent. _

_Orihime sighed. "Think of it this way. If Akihiro-kun lived here and became best friends with a boy his age in Rukongai, they couldn't grow up together. Ten years from now, Aki-kun would be 15, and the boy in Rukongai would still be 5. Don't you see how strange and unhealthy that is?"_

_Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I see you have your mind made up." _

…..

….

Orihime awoke with a frown. Why was she still dreaming about him almost every night? With more and more frequency, her dreams revolved around memories of her life with Ichigo. She constantly scrutinized her own decisions, wondering if she could have prevented the disintegration of their family.

She sat up in bed and shook her head. No, short of moving to Soul Society there was no way she could have saved their relationship. And although Ichigo seemed to disagree with her, she still thought it was better for the kids to live here in the real world.

The baby stirred and she soothingly rubbed her stomach through her nightgown. Orihime was now four months along and last week the doctor had determined that it was a boy. Ichigo had promised he would make it to the ultrasound appointment, but there was some kind of emergency in Soul Society and he didn't show. She hadn't been surprised, but she was disappointed.

She rubbed her eyes before looking over at her clock. Her eyes widened, 10:30? She was going to be late!

…..

…

The bell above the café door chimed as Orihime rushed through. She apologized to the waitress she almost knocked over in her haste.

John, her date, chuckled as she finally took her seat across from him at the table near the window. She smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry I'm late. Again. Tsuyoshi hid his homework from me so I had to stay up late to make sure he did it." Orihime explained her tardiness.

John smiled reassuringly. "He sounds like quite the handful."

John was American, but he lived and worked in Japan selling real estate. Orihime had met John because she was planning on downsizing to an apartment. He was tall with brown hair and blue eyes. He was very handsome. The pair had been on two previous dates over the last month, and she hoped their third date went just as well.

"He is. But he is a sweet boy at heart, I think this is just a rebellious stage." Orihime explained.

A waitress walked up to their table. "I see your date has arrived." She sounded disappointed as she addressed John.

"Yes, and we're ready to order." John replied.

…..

….

Orihime paused at a particularly strong kick from her unborn son. John paused with her. "Are you alright?" He asked.

She nodded as she slowly straightened up. "I think the baby doesn't like all this walking."

John looked towards a park bench. "Let's take a seat then."

He gently guided Orihime over to the bench and they slowly sat down. "I'm sorry I'm so boring right now. I promise when I'm not pregnant I have much more energy and I'm much more fun." She said apologetically.

He smiled. "I'm still having fun." John replied.

Orihime returned his smile. John was sweet, but she always felt a little weird being out with him. She couldn't escape the feeling that she was cheating on Ichigo. She was so absorbed in her own mind that she didn't notice when John leaned in to kiss her.

She froze in shock for a moment and allowed him to kiss her. She even started to return his kiss halfheartedly before she realized she couldn't do it. She pulled away with tears in her eyes.

"Orihime, what's wrong?" John asked.

Orihime didn't have an answer. "I'm sorry. But I can't."

John looked on thoroughly confused as his date ran off without another word.

…..

…

Akihiro grabbed Kaya's hand before she could cross the street. "Look both ways." He warned before doing just that and then crossing the street. Kaya reached out with her free hand to grab Tsuyoshi's hand.

Tsuyoshi tried to wiggle free from his little sister. "Only babies need to hold hands before crossing the street." Tsuyoshi complained, but he was unable to free his hand from Kaya's grip.

"I don't want you to get lost Yoshi-nii." Kaya's overly concerned tone was almost comical.

Akihiro saw some familiar auburn hair from across the street. "Mom?"

Orihime waved excitedly at her children. Once they reached her, Kaya released her older brothers' hands in order to latch onto her mother.

"What are you doing here?" Tsuyoshi asked.

"I wanted to walk you guys home from school. And I was in the area." Orihime neglected to tell her children that she was in the area on a date; that was information they didn't need to know.

They seemed to accept her explanation easily enough and the family started back toward their home.

"How was your test Akihiro-kun?" Orihime asked in order to start the small talk.

Akihiro shrugged. "I think it went okay. I didn't know all of the answers, but I think I'm generally a pretty good guesser."

"And Tsuyoshi-kun, did you turn in the homework?"

"Of course I did. You made me stay up until 1:00 in the morning to finish it." Tsuyoshi complained.

"Well, if you hadn't lied about it and had done your homework early, that wouldn't have happened." Orihime rebutted. "And Kaya-chan, what did you learn today?" Orihime asked.

"We learned about water colors! And we got to finger paint! I painted a robot invasion of Earth. Do you want to see it?" Without waiting for a response, Kaya began to search through her lime green backpack for her drawing.

Suddenly, the little girl froze. "Do you guys feel that?" She asked, her voice full of fear.

Then Orihime did feel it. An extremely powerful and extremely evil reiatsu. It was approaching quickly, and Orihime immediately recognized there was not going to be time to escape.

Orihime looked up as something started to fall down from the sky. As it approached, Orihime realized it was a female form dressed in Shinigami robes. She had brown eyes and long brown hair that cascaded down her back in waves. Something about this woman was very familiar.

"Kurosaki Orihime, I presume?" The brunette said when she landed on the concrete in front of the family.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Orihime bravely stood in front of her children.

"Well, that was kind of rude. You could at least ask nicely. I'll chalk your rudeness up to pregnancy hormones and give you a pass this time. My name is Aizen Mayuko. I believe you know my older brother."

Although it had been over 15 years, Orihime obviously still remembered Aizen. And the fact that this woman was related to Aizen struck fear into her heart.

"As far as what I want," Mayuko continued, "I'm trying to send a message to your husband. This should get the message across nicely."

With that said, Mayuko attacked.

Just the force Mayuko exhibited as she flash stepped toward Orihime and her children knocked the pregnant mother to the concrete and she hit her head, hard.

She blacked out for a moment, but forced herself to stay conscious. She had to protect her kids. She shakily got to her feet, but she was extremely dizzy and groggy.

Urahara had once told her that using her powers while pregnant was dangerous for her unborn child. So although Mayuko was quickly approaching her destination with her sword drawn, Orihime hesitated to fight back.

"Shiten Kōshun!" Tsuyoshi yelled before his shield sprang up in front of his mother. Mayuko hit the shield and didn't break through, but the resulting blast didn't hurt her, only knocked her back momentarily.

Orihime looked at Tsuyoshi in shock. Since when could he call forth his powers without calling their names individually? Before she could dwell too much on this new revelation, a flash of black distracted her.

"Aaah!" Akihiro yelled out as he swung his zanpakutu at Mayuko. Mayuko easily blocked his attack.

Orihime's eyes widened as she saw her son in Shinigami robes. When….what…..what was happening?

"Koten Zanshun!" Tsoyoshi yelled. Barra emerged from his birthmark and managed to slash Mayuko, who was distracted with Akihiro. The slash wasn't deep, but it did seem to anger Mayuko who quickly wiped away the blood from the back of her neck and turned to glare at Tsuyoshi.

Akihiro used her temporary distraction against her and swung his zanpakutu again, this time managing to slash her ankle.

Mayuko seemed to have been playing around with them before, but she was quickly becoming angry. This time, she swung her zanpakutu at Akihiro with much more force.

"Santen Kesshun!" Kaya shouted and her fairies, Aoi, Chika, and Emi formed a shield to protect Akihiro from the strike.

Orihime looked at her only daughter in shock. Kaya too? They had all been training? But when?

"This is getting real old real quick. If you brats want to fight so much, I'll give you something to fight." Mayuko jumped into the air and slashed a hole in the sky, which glowed black and red before two disfigured hollows climbed out. They were huge, probably 8 feet tall, and seemed completely un-human.

The children quickly dodged as the hollows slammed their fists down where the three had previously been.

"Now that they're taken care of, it's just you and me Orihime-chan." Mayuko stated.

Orihime had been worriedly watching the hollows attack her children, but she quickly returned her attention to the biggest threat.

Tsubaki manifested from her hairpins without being called. "What are you doing woman! You have to fight! I don't want any bullshit lack of killing intent this time either. Because she definitely intends to kill you." Tsubaki warned.

Orihime nodded, trying to convince herself that she could do this. She used Koten Zanshun without calling out the incantation and Tsubaki flew in for the attack. Mayuko dodged the attack head on, but Orihime had anticipated this and sent Tsubaki back like a boomerang to attack from the back.

Mayuko hissed in pain as blood dripped down from her back. "Attacking from behind? A little cowardly, don't you think?"

Orihime ignored that jab and Tsubaki disappeared back into her hairpins. Mayuko launched toward her once again and she threw up her Shiten Kōshun just as Mayuko reached her, but this time Mayuko jumped over the explosion and reached Orihime.

The pregnant healer fell to the floor and barely managed to roll away from Mayuko's next strike.

"Mom!" Tsuyoshi tried to intervene but one of the hollows swiped his spiky tail at the seven year-old, knocking him back away from his mother.

Mayuko struck again and this time she cut a large gash in Orihime's stomach since she failed to roll away fast enough She gasped as she saw the blood gushing out of her wound.

"Gotcha." Mayuko taunted vindictively.

Orihime called up her healing shield, but Mayuko was not going to give her enough time to heal.

"Oh no you don't" Mayuko kicked through the healing shield, hitting Orihime directly in the stomach. Orihime tried to hide her groan, not wanting Mayuko to get the satisfaction of seeing how much pain she was in.

"You know, I really thought Kurosaki Ichigo would be here by now. He must not give a shit about you." Mayuko kicked her in the stomach again. Orihime tried to launch Tsubaki, but Mayuko swatted him away as if he was a fly.

Orihime could feel herself losing consciousness. She was losing so much blood. And the baby. What was happening to her son? She looked down and saw blood coming from between her legs. Was she miscarrying? A teardrop fell from her eye despite her reluctance to cry in front of Mayuko.

Mayuko powered up a kidou spell and aimed it directly at Orihime's stomach. "Maybe this will draw your husband out." The last thing Orihime remembered was a flash of red light before her world went black.

…..

….

Another tear opened in the sky. A man walked out. "Mayuko, what are you doing?"

Mayuko turned to look at the intruder. "What are you doing here Kato?"

Kato landed on the concrete and walked towards his younger sister. "I believe that was my question." Kato resembled a younger Aizen, but instead of brown hair his was a midnight black.

"I'm tired of waiting. We've waited long enough. I am going to terrorize as many people as necessary until they agree to release Aizen." Mayuko explained.

Kato looked at the unconscious Orihime. "If you have killed her, you've ruined everything."

Mayuko rolled her eyes. "I know that. She's not dead. Just very injured."

Kato grabbed his sister's wrist. "We're leaving. You've done enough damage here."

Mayuko tried to free herself. "I'm not going anywhere until Kurosaki Ichigo gets here. "

Kato ignored her protests and all but threw her into the slit in the sky. "You're hasty as always Mayuko." He muttered before following his sister.

…..

….

Kaya crawled away from her brothers, managing to reach her mother without the hollows noticing her absence. She trembled when she saw all the blood, but tried to force herself to remain calm.

"Sōten Kisshun." She murmured weakly as her golden healing dome encased her mother. The wounds slowly started to heal, but it was taking all her energy and she didn't have the power necessary to fix it all.

"Sōten Kisshun." Tsuyoshi's fairies joined Kaya's and the healing sped up slightly as the two worked together.

Kaya looked towards Akihiro worriedly. Tsuyoshi followed her gaze. "Kon is helping." He tried to reassure his little sister and not let on how worried he himself was.

Kon gave one of the hollows a mighty kick in Akihiro's physical body and the hollow yelled in pain.

Tsuyoshi saw that all his mother's wounds were not healed. "We can't do this. You have to get Mom to Grandpa." Tsuyoshi proclaimed.

Kaya nodded and called forth her shield. Tsuyoshi helped Kaya load their mother onto the shield. Kaya ran toward Isshin's house, her shield carrying their mother trailing behind her,.

Tsuyoshi ran back to help Akihiro. Akihiro jumped into the air and attempted to take off the weaker hollow's head. He managed to slash the neck, but the wound was shallow.

He leaped back down to the ground as the hollow tried to swat him and smash him. He noticed Tsuyoshi. "You should help Kaya with Mom."

Tsuyoshi shook his head. "You need my help."

"I don't."

"Santen Kesshun!" Tsuyoshi's shield protected both brothers from a possibly fatal strike of hollow number two's spiked tail.

Both brothers were sweating and clearly exhausted. Kon wasn't doing much better and Akihiro's body had taken some damage. They didn't know how much longer they could last.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo killed both hollows with a single strike.

His sons collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted and glad to be alive.

"Dad, Mom-" Akihiro started.

"Where is she?" Ichigo interrupted.

"The clinic." Tsuyoshi answered.

Ichigo scooped up both his sons and rushed to the clinic.

…..

…

A/N: Well, that was my first action scene ever. It was a struggle. Please review and tell me what you thought! I'll be out of town this week so I'll try to update when I get back.

Reviewer responses:

Ermilus: Glad you liked it! Next chapter will finally include some Ichigo Orihime time so we'll see how messed up all this has left their relationship.

Xtremefairy: Glad you liked it! Hope you like this one too!

Chuain: You brought up a lot of good points. I tried to resolve some of those plot holes in this chapter. Hope you liked this chapter!

DeathDerryLover1995: Well, he was kind of right about them needing to be trained so he won't be in too much trouble. Although he shouldn't have lied. Thanks for reviewing!

final-zangetsu: Glad you like it! : )

Pisces00: I'm still not sure whether or not they are going to work it out. Keep reading to find out!

ladycifer: It probably seems like Ichigo spends more time with Akihiro because I didn't want to develop all the kid characters too much because they're original characters and I didn't want readers to get bored. I kind of picked Akihiro to be the main child so I just focus on him more. But I hope it seems more balanced now since I'm trying to develop everyone!

LuvleeCookieChan: Thank you for reviewing! I feel bad for Akihiro too, in a world where power is so important it must suck to be weaker than your younger siblings.

KAT: Well, this update was a little slower, but I hope you still liked it and enjoy reading!

Misha: Thank you for reviewing! After all this drama the dates are probably the least of his concerns.

RainingLight1: Here's the update and thank you for reviewing!

Until next update!


	5. Chapter 5: Sora: Loss

I'm back from out of town and here is Chapter 5!

_Chapter 5: Sora_

_7 Years Ago:_

"_Where are we mommy?" three year-old Akihiro asked as he dragged his feet the rest of the way up the hill. _

_Orihime smiled down at her son. "You tell me. Where are we Akihiro-kun?"_

_His face scrunched in concentration as he tried to remember why the tombstone in front of him was so familiar. _

_Orihime took him by the hand and the pair went closer to the gravestone. "What does this symbol mean Akihiro-kun?"_

_Akihiro raked his memories for the meaning of the kana symbols ingrained on the stone. Orihime and Ichigo had just started trying to teach the toddler how to read and write, and he was picking it up quickly. _

_Akihiro looked at the three lines that somewhat resembled a triangle that his mom was pointing at. "That one is…..Ma!" Akihiro remembered triumphantly. _

"_Very good Aki-kun! You're so smart! And what about this one?" Orihime pointed to the next kana symbol._

"_It's….it's ri." Akihiro answered. _

"_So now that you know both symbols, what does that say?" Orihime questioned while ruffling his messy black hair affectionately. _

"_Mari." Akihiro replied. _

_Sure enough, mother and son were standing in front of Otaka Mari's grave. Mari's family had allowed for her to be buried in Karakura since it meant she was closer to her son. Akihiro had been to his biological mother's gravesite several times before, but being only three of course he did not recognize it right away. _

"_That's right. We are here to pay respect to Mari. Your biological mother." Orihime explained. The very pregnant, 8 months along now, woman slowly lowered herself to a _

_kneeling position in front of the grave. _

_Akihiro mimicked her actions. Orihime closed her eyes and prayed silently. Akihiro closed his eyes too, but every few seconds would open them to see if his mom was done yet. _

_Eventually she rose and wiped the dirt off her sky blue maternity dress. She pulled a bouquet of roses from the shopping bad she was carrying and laid it across the grave. She beamed at Akihiro before offering him her hand again. _

"_Are we going home now mommy?" Akihiro asked as they walked away from the grave. _

_Orihime shook her head no. "We have to visit some more family first."_

_Akihiro released Orihime's hand and reached his arms up toward her, signaling that he wanted her to hold him. _

_If Ichigo had been there, he would have gruffly barked, 'He's three Orihime. He can walk. Stop babying him. Besides, you know I don't like you lifting anything when you're pregnant!' The soon to be mother of two giggled as she pictured the scowl that would have undoubtedly accompanied his statements. _

_But he was in Soul Society for the weekend so there was no one to object. Orihime lifted Akihiro and he settled comfortably above his mom's hip as she supported him with one arm. The two continued their trek to the next grave. _

_Soon, they were standing in front of a grave marked Kurosaki Masaki. Orihime lowered Akihiro to the ground before she knelt in front of Masaki's grave. Once again, Akihiro copied his mother. _

_Orihime laid more flowers, dandelions this time, on the grave before she and Akihiro headed to the final grave. _

_The auburn haired woman knelt in front of the final grave. This time, she spent much more time praying than she had at the previous two games. Akihiro eventually took to trying to read the kana symbols on the grave to pass the time. _

_He only knew two out of the four symbols. He stopped trying to read the symbols when Orihime patted her lap, silently asking him to join her. _

_Orihime was now sitting on her heels as she knelt in front of the grave. Akihiro sat on her lap and leaned back as far as was possible with her protruding stomach. _

"_This is where your Uncle is buried. My brother, Inoue Sora." Orihime explained. _

_Akihiro had been here before too, but less frequently than he had been to Masaki's or Mari's graves. _

"_He would have been 41 today." Orihime continued sadly. _

_Akihiro twisted around in her lap to hug her. He hated when his mom was sad. Orihime sniffled but tried to keep the tears at bay and returned his hug._

"_You know, I was going to name this baby Sora." Orihime rubbed her belly affectionately. _

"_But you're not going to momma?" Akihiro asked. _

"_I'm afraid naming the baby Sora would bring him bad luck. Sora had so much bad luck. He was so young…" Orihime trailed off as she regarded her brother's grave. _

_The two sat in a comfortable silence for several moments more. The only sound in the cemetery was the wind rustling the cherry blossom trees. _

…_._

…_._

"Where were you?!" Tsuyoshi asked angrily as the Kurosaki men made their way to the clinic.

Ichigo winced at the accusatory tone of his son's voice. He tightened his grip on his sons and flash stepped faster toward the clinic.

This was his fault. As soon as he had felt something wasn't right he had gotten to Karakura town as fast as possible, but it obviously wasn't enough. He should have been here. This wouldn't have happened if he had been here.

When they finally reached Ichigo's childhood home, they found a shaken Kaya leaning against the door. She was covered in blood and trembling.

Ichigo allowed Akihiro and Tsuyoshi down to the floor. He immediately approached his only daughter. "Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

She nodded. "The blood isn't mine. Its Mommy's blood."

Without another word Ichigo entered the house. He was so upset he could barely see or hear. Crashing into his father brought him out of his own thoughts.

Like Kaya, Isshin was covered in blood.

Isshin gripped Ichigo's shoulders. "Take a deep breath." Isshin advised.

Ichigo did as his father suggested. He took several deep breaths to gather his thoughts.

Once he was calm, well calmer anyway, he finally spoke. "Where is she?"

Isshin's face took on an unusually somber expression. "Orihime is in the clinic. I couldn't stop her early labor. The baby didn't survive. I'm sorry." Isshin stated sadly.

Ichigo fought back his own tears. This wasn't the time. He had to be strong for her. For once, he was going to be there for her. "But…Orihime is okay, right?" He finally asked.

Isshin briefly looked over his shoulder toward where Orihime was in the clinic. He returned his sympathetic gaze to his son. "She'll live, if that's what you're asking. But I wouldn't say she is 'okay'."

Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his unruly hair. "Can…can you take the kids back home and stay with them for tonight?" Ichigo asked.

Isshin nodded. "Of course son."

Ichigo started to walk past his father, but was stopped when his father pulled him into a strong hug. Wrapped in his father's arms, Ichigo sobbed for the first time in years.

….

….

Ichigo slowly opened the door to the clinic. There, looking tragically beautiful and fragile in a white medical robe, Orihime laid on her side staring blankly at the wall from her cot. Ichigo closed the door loudly enough to alert his wife of his presence, but he got no reaction.

He pulled a chair up to the cot, settling himself in front of her. Although he was sitting right in front of her, it was almost like she was looking through him.

"Orihime."

No response.

"Orihime." He repeated, louder this time.

She continued to stare blankly at the wall.

He waved his hand in front of her face, but she didn't even seem to notice.

Ichigo frowned worriedly. Her hands rested lifelessly on the sheets. He hesitantly reached out and took both her hands in his and squeezed. Her hands were cold and she still didn't react to his presence. The only proof of life was the steady rising and falling of her chest and her blinking.

He had done this to her. This was his fault. He felt tears welling up in his eyes for the third time today. But this time, he couldn't fight them back. "I'm sorry Orihime. I'm so sorry."

Hearing her husband cry, she had never seen him cry, seemed to shake Orihime out of her stupor. She refocused on her husband.

Ichigo angrily wiped away tears. "I'm so fucking stupid. I should have been here. The whole reason I'm in Soul Society is because I want the world to be safe for my family and my friends but then when someone needs me to protect them I'm not here! And we lost our baby and its all my fault!" The tears wouldn't stop falling.

"It's not your fault." Ichigo looked up surprised as Orihime finally spoke. "It's my fault. I'm 33 years old now but I'm still just as worthless as I was in high school. I still can't fight my own battles. I'm _still _counting on you to protect me."

Ichigo shook his head fervently. "You're not useless. You've never been useless."

Orihime quickly interrupted his reassurances. "Don't!" She yelled forcefully. Ichigo was taken aback by the shrill scream and quickly quieted.

She swallowed before finally looked at him. "Don't. Please, don't try to make me feel better." She whispered as if she didn't even have the strength to speak.

"I was so stupid." She continued. "I just wanted the kids to get to live a normal life. I didn't want them to be in danger all the time or feel like they have a responsibility to Soul Society. But they have these powers and spiritual pressures and they'll never be normal."

Ichigo remained silent, wanting her to get everything off her chest.

Orihime closed her eyes, looking tired and emotionally exhausted. "I should have trained. I should have helped them train. I've always been so weak. I'm such a burden. I'm so stupid. I should have-"

Ichigo had heard enough. Without warning, he rose from his chair and carefully lifted his estranged wife off of the cot. He then proceeded to lie down on the cot, settling Orihime so they were now facing each other lying down. The cot was small, so the couple was closer to each other than they had been in months. He had missed this closeness with her. He wrapped her up in his arms before she could tell him not to.

"You're not stupid. You're not useless. You're not weak. You've _never _been a burden." Ichigo insisted.

"Stop." She muttered weakly. She didn't want him to lie to make her feel better.

"No. _You_ stop. This is not your fault. You did everything, _everything_, that you could do." Ichigo stated.

"Where is he?" Orihime suddenly asked.

Ichigo briefly wondered what 'he' she was referring to, but quickly realized she must mean their unborn son. He looked around the small clinic and noticed something wrapped in a bundle of blankets on a table near the door. He almost vomited when he realized that must be his dead son.

"I want to see him." Orihime demanded.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Ichigo responded.

Orihime ignored him and tried to sit up. She winced at the pain.

"Stop. You're not healed yet." Ichigo warned.

She continued to ignore him and finally managed to struggle to a seated position. Ichigo's arms had long since slipped from around her. She groaned as she attempted to swing her legs from the cot.

Ichigo signaled for her to stop. "I'll get him. Just please stop moving."

Orihime nodded to show she agreed. Ichigo sighed before walking over to the bundle of blue blankets. He carefully moved the blankets away from where he assumed the face was.

The Shinigami Captain squeezed the edge of the metal table to stop himself from punching something. This shouldn't have happened. This baby shouldn't be dead. Since Orihime had only made it to her fourth month of pregnancy, the baby wasn't completely formed, but he was formed enough to look human.

He was smaller than Ichigo would have expected. The fetus was maybe the size of his hand. But although he was small, he had ears and fingers. Ichigo removed the rest of the blanket. He had toes.

Now seeing the body, everything became more concrete. His son would never be born. He was dead. And it was his fault. But now was not the time to dwell on it.

He carefully rewrapped the baby in the blankets, only leaving his face exposed. He returned to Orihime's side, handing her their child as he settled beside her on the cot.

As soon as she had her son in her arms, the tears immediately started flowing. And as much as she tried to stop, she couldn't. Ichigo rubbed her back comfortingly, not knowing what else he could do to soothe his distraught wife.

She cried for the better part of an hour before she finally spoke again.

"I was going to name him Sora." She revealed, wiping away the last of her tears.

Ichigo swallowed, unsure how to respond.

She turned her grey eyes toward him. "Did you know about Aizen's siblings?"

Ichigo shook his head. "There were rumors that he had supporters out there and that they were out for revenge, but we didn't know his supporters were his siblings. And we had no idea how powerful they were." He responded.

Orihime returned her loving gaze to her baby. "It's not safe here, is it?" She asked.

Ichigo didn't answer, but she knew it wasn't safe for her or the children to stay in the material world.

Orihime sighed before kissing Sora on the forehead and then rewrapping him in the blanket. Tears once again welled up in her eyes as she handed Sora back to Ichigo.

"I'm not going to let them get away with this. I will avenge our son. Mayuko will never hurt anyone again if I have anything to say about it." Ichigo promised.

"I want to help." Orihime confided.

Ichigo looked surprised, but Orihime continued. "This is something we should deal with as a family. The kids and I need to train. We need to be able to fight and defend ourselves. And the only way to do that is if we all go to Soul Society. We should present a united front." Determination shone in her grey eyes.

He had always wanted his whole family in Soul Society, but these definitely weren't the circumstances he had always imagined.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." He blurted out.

Orihime looked at him, and he felt that he had to explain himself. He had to bare his soul.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here for you or the kids. I love you. And I love our kids. And I wish I could be here with you. But I feel like I have a responsibility to Soul Society. Being a Shinigami is the only thing I've ever been good at. I tried to be normal in college. I dated someone that had nothing to do with Soul Society and hollows and everything else. And I killed her. No matter how hard I try to get away from Soul Society, I'll always be connected to it. We'll always be connected to it. I can't just walk away. I owe Soul Society a lot. Being a Shinigami captain is the only way I can give back. I want to protect people, and I can make a much bigger difference there."

"I always thought you lived in Soul Society because a normal life bores you. Because _I _bore you." Orihime admitted.

Ichigo gripped her hand with his free hand that wasn't holding Sora. "No. Never. I just feel like such a disappointment in the material world. All I've done here is cause my mother's and my fiancée's deaths. But in Soul Society, I'm a hero. I protect people. I'm the kind of person my children can respect. Deep down, I'm afraid of a normal life. We have these extraordinary powers, and if we just live ordinary lives, I feel like we failed. Like my mom died for me for nothing. Like Mari died for nothing if Akihiro doesn't use his powers to help people."

Orihime was shocked Ichigo was being so open with her. "I had no idea you felt that way." She said softly.

"You know how much I suck at communication." Ichigo teased with a sad smirk.

"I'm sure both Masaki and Mari don't feel like you owe them anything. They just want you to be happy." Orihime insisted.

"_You _make me happy. Our family makes me happy. I don't want to get a divorce Orihime." Ichigo replied.

Orihime sighed heavily. "Can we talk about this later? I think we should just take everything one step at a time. Right now, we need to focus on the Aizens and stopping them before they hurt anyone else."

Ichigo reluctantly agreed. "You're right. One step at a time."

Orihime yawned, the events of the day obviously taking a toll on her.

"You should rest. I'll call Dad to see how the kids are doing." Ichigo suggested. He tried to get up, but Orihime gripped his wrist to stop him.

"Don't go." She pleaded.

She didn't need to ask him twice. He settled back into the cot after placing Sora on the adjacent cot. Now with his arms free, he wrapped his arms around Orihime's waist, pulling her close. Her face was buried in his neck as they lay facing each other, comfortably intertwined. He rested his head on top of hers and enjoyed the scent of her familiar strawberry shampoo.

Tomorrow, they would leave for Soul Society. But for right now, they just focused on the sound of the other's breathing. Relishing in simply being alive while silently mourning the loss of their child.

….

….

A/N: Well, the ending was kind of awkward, but no matter how many ways I tried to rewrite it I couldn't write anything better. I've already started chapter 6 so it should be up soon. Now for reviewer responses.

DeathBerryLover1995: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry I'm so cruel, but it was an important part of the plot!

KAT: I'm glad Orihime's pain is believable, and I hope this chapter somewhat explains why Ichigo is so absent. I feel like I'm making everyone not like him.

frezia: Thank you for your honesty. But I don't really think Ichigo is that out of character in my story. In the manga, he's always training here or there without telling his family where he is going or what he is doing. He knows it makes his sisters sad, but he doesn't stop doing it. And what he is doing is always important and in the end he is just trying to protect them and everyone else. But hopefully Ichigo was more likeable in this chapter and people can see why he feels like he needs to be in Soul Society.

Xtremefairy: Thanks for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter!

RainingLight1: Here is the update! Hope you enjoyed!

Ermilus: Thank you for reviewing! Hopefully Ichigo pisses you off a little bit less in this chapter.

Chuain: I love how long your reviews are! And you always bring up such good points. Hopefully Ichigo somewhat redeemed himself as a husband and as a father.

LuvleeCookieChan: Thank you! Hope you like this chapter too!

WestAnimeBrigade: I'm glad you love the story! Hope you like this chapter too!

ladycifer: Sorry but the baby had to die. But on the bright side, now that they've hit rock bottom, nowhere to go but up! Thank you for reviewing so consistently! Hope you like the new chapter!

Thank you to all reviewers, favers, and alerters! Please review and let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6: Mari: Sacrifice

A/N: Here is Chapter 6!

_10 years ago:_

_Mari slammed the door angrily on her way out of the apartment. Ichigo was such an asshole. If they weren't having a baby, she would have left him by now._

_They had gotten into a fight over the phone. Again. Mari wanted to visit her friend, but Ichigo had forbidden her to leave the apartment without him present and he was currently at work. Mari understood that it was dangerous, but she wasn't going to be a prisoner in her own home._

_After becoming pregnant, Ichigo had explained everything about hollows, Soul Society, and Shinigamis. At first, she had thought he was insane. But soon into the pregnancy, she started to get attacked. _

_It was very difficult to be attacked by an enemy that was completely invisible to her. Mari couldn't even sense them. But she would be walking down the street, and all of a sudden she would be bleeding and have bruises. Or she would be knocked down or into a wall out of nowhere. _

_It never took Ichigo long to appear. He would hit himself in the chest with his Shinigami badge and his body would fall to the floor. Mari couldn't see his Shinigami form or the conclusion of the battle, but she had come to the conclusion that Ichigo was some kind of hollow killing machine since he always seemed to finish rather quickly. _

_At first, she had been content to just stay in the apartment to avoid Hollow attacks. But as the months dragged by, she was becoming very lonely. Ichigo was basically her only connection to the outside world. And they were not getting along very well. _

_This pregnancy had been unplanned. Mari had been on birth control but it was either defective or she hadn't been using it correctly. They had only been dating for a few months when they found out she was pregnant. Mari would never consider an abortion, but she couldn't help but lament that this baby was going to change their lives dramatically. _

_Although Ichigo had recently graduated, Mari still had a year left of college. They were not financially stable, and although Ichigo had recently landed a fulltime job, money was still going to be tight. Just thinking about being a parent, a student, a wife, and an employee stressed Mari out. _

_She shook herself out of her own thoughts and came back to the present. Mari wobbled down the stairs, (being 9 months pregnant made stairs very difficult) and was forced to take a break to gather her breath at the bottom of the staircase. She slowly set off toward her friend's apartment, against her fiancé's wishes. _

_Mari was almost half way there when her unborn son began kicking frantically. She froze. This was bad news. Although Mari could not sense hollows, the baby definitely could. Mari had learned some of the signals. If the baby rolled over, it was a weak hollow and she could generally just escape. If the baby kicked her high in her stomach, it was just a ghost and she had nothing to worry about. But this frantic kicking was the signal for strong hollow, so this was not good. _

_Suddenly, the baby stopped kicking. Mari looked around puzzled. Was it gone? Suddenly, something gripped her wrist. Since the baby wasn't doing anything, she realized the invisible force must not be a threat. When she was tugged back toward their apartment, she realized it was Ichigo. _

_Her invisible fiancé tugged her toward his childhood home. Once they entered, she saw Ichigo's physical body on the couch. Her wrist was released and Ichigo slipped back into his body before stalking over to her._

"_Didn't I tell you not to leave the apartment?" He wasn't yelling, but he was mad. _

_Mari glared. "I've been sitting in that apartment for months. I'm bored and lonely."_

"_Well bored and lonely is better than dead!" Ichigo retorted. _

"_You've basically ruined my life! You and your freaky reiatsu! Dragging me into this mess!" Mari screamed. _

"_I've ruined _**your **_life? If you hadn't gotten pregnant I wouldn't even be here! I would have gone to Soul Society by now, where I'm actually appreciated and respected. I never wanted a wife or kids but someone doesn't know how to use their damn birth control correctly!" Ichigo yelled. _

"_Well, no one is begging you to stay! Feel free to leave at any fucking time!" Mari replied before storming out of the house. _

_Ichigo cursed and followed after her. "Don't walk away from me! We are in the middle of a conversation." Since Mari was waddling more than walking, Ichigo caught up to her easily. _

_Mari huffed and tried to increase her pace, but she couldn't. "I don't have anything to say to you." She said haughtily. _

_Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Whatever."_

_Suddenly Mari stopped walking. "I think...I think my water just broke."_

…

…

_The baby's spiritual pressure was fluctuating wildly. At some points, it was almost as strong as his father's. Mari was not doing well at all. With every fluctuation, she curled up in pain. _

_A nurse placed a wet rag on Mari's forehead. "Stay with me Otaka-san. We can see the head. You're almost there."_

_Mari screamed in pain as the baby's reiatsu peaked once again._

_Ichigo winced with every scream and grimace. He squeezed her sweaty hand to reassure her that he was still there. The medical staff had no idea what was wrong, but he could tell the spiritual pressure was hurting Mari. He just hoped she was strong enough to withstand it. _

"_Otaka-san, one more big push and you'll have your baby. Can you push really hard?" The doctor asked as she took a seat between Mari's legs, ready to deliver the baby. _

_Mari nodded weakly. With one more mighty push, which was accompanied with a mighty scream, their son was born. _

_The baby's cries filled the room. Mari smiled weakly as she heard the evidence that her son would be all right. But she knew she wouldn't be. From the look on Ichigo's face, he could obviously feel her slipping away as well. _

_The doctors frantically tried to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing they could do. _

"_Can I…can I hold him?" Mari asked weakly. _

_Ichigo quickly retrieved the baby and handed him to his mother. _

_Mari smiled at her son and kissed his forehead. "He has your eyes." Mari commented. Her voice was getting quieter, as if she barely had the strength to get the words out. _

_Ichigo tried to respond, but all that came out was a choking noise. He had to say something. He should apologize. Tell her he loves her. Tell her everything was going to be okay. But nothing came out._

"_Promise me, you'll take good care of him?" Mari's voice was barely above a whisper now. _

"_I promise." Ichigo vowed. _

"_And, I want to name him Akihiro. It means bright and large." Mari continued. _

_Ichigo nodded. "Anything you want." Her eyes were starting to close. She was dying. Ichigo heard his tears hitting the floor before he realized he was crying. "I'm sorry Mari. I'm so sorry." He apologized. _

_Mari smiled weakly. 'Don't be sorry. Just take good care of my son." She uttered her last words._

…_._

…_._

Akihiro stretched his tired muscles as he walked through Seireitei. Ouch. His shoulder hurt. It had been another long day of training in Soul Society.

The family had been in Soul Society for a month now and the children's powers had become impressively stronger. Luckily the Aizens had attacked only a week before school got out for the summer so they had been able to finish the year before leaving for Soul Society.

Overall, Akihiro liked being here in Soul Society. Their house was bigger, it was more exciting, and he fe;t like the whole family fit in better here. But there were also downsides. For one, Akihiro was pretty upset that Tsuyoshi now had both Shinigami and Shun Shun Rikka powers. His little brother was just naturally stronger than him. His reiastsu level was higher. Kaya actually had more reiatsu than him as well, but like her mother in her younger days, she lacked a killing instinct.

But Tsuyoshi did not lack a killing instinct. What he did lack was concentration and determination. Akihiro had always felt Tsuyoshi probably had undiagnosed ADD and in his opinion training in Soul Society had proved it. Akihiro was definitely the sibling that worked the hardest and was the most interested in Shinigamis. While Ichigo worked with Tsuyoshi or Kaya, Akihiro sought out other people willing to train him. He had worked with Rukia, Renji, lower ranked Shinigami in his father's division, and even Kenpachi despite his father's protests.

Akihiro had achieved Shikai and according to his dad he would soon be able to undergo Bankai training with Urahara. He could tell his father was worried. The eldest Kurosaki child knew the result of his dad's training with Urahara. Although Ichigo's hollow was mostly under control now, as far as Akihiro knew, he knew his father didn't want him to have the same tribulations.

Kaya and Tsuyoshi had learned their Zanpakutōs names, and were really close to achieving Shikai. But it was doubtful they would have their Bankais before the Aizens attacked again.

His mom was training hard as well. She spent a lot of time with the 4th squad improving her healing techniques and she also frequently trained with Rukia to improve her offensive techniques. The death of Akihiro's baby brother had really affected her and given her the conviction that she had often lacked in her other battles.

Akihiro stopped walking. He had somehow gotten turned around while he was lost in his own thoughts and now he was lost in Rukongai. He groaned irritably. He was going to be late for dinner.

He wandered through Rukongai, dodging people rushing to and fro. Rukongai was so different compared to Seireitei. It was so busy, and although there were parts of Rukongai that were slums, it was also very full of life.

Akihiro was wearing his shinigami robes and the Rukongai residents were reacting. Some looked impressed, obviously those that dreamed about becoming shinigamis themselves, but most looked at him with contempt.

Shinigamis were not very popular in Rukongai. Some of it might have been jealousy, since the Shinigamis lived much better than the residents of Rukongai. But another large part of it was that Shinigami historically tended to treat the Rukongai citizens very poorly.

Akihiro self-consciously tried to blend into his surroundings better, uncomfortable with being the center of attention. He fell into step with a group of boys who looked to be around his age.

He followed the boys despite the fact that he had no idea where they were going. He would have continued to follow them aimlessly, but something caught his eye.

He stopped walking abruptly, causing a minor collision with the boy walking behind him. Akihiro hastily apologized before setting off and following the woman with the midnight black hair.

"Mari!" Akihiro yelled as he hurried after her. She didn't seem to hear him and she continued walking with a brisk pace through Rukongai. Akihiro bumped into a vendor and apologized once again as he continued to try to pursue Mari. "Otaka Mari!" He tried again. No response. "Mom!" He finally yelled desperately.

This time she did stop and turn to look at him, but she looked very confused. "Did you say something kid?" Mari asked.

Akihiro frowned. Kid? Did she not know who he was? He looked her over from head to toe. They actually looked a lot alike. Besides having his dad's eyes and hairstyle, everything else seemed to come from Mari. The softer jaw line, the lighter, almost milky white, skin complexion, and other facial features. Looking at her now in person was different than looking at the photographs his dad had given him.

Since he obviously couldn't remember her at all, she had always seemed really abstract to him. But looking at her now, she had been alive. She was a real person. And he had killed her.

That morbid realization dawned on him suddenly. She was dead because he was alive. And he barely even thought about her. He considered Orihime to be his mom. He had replaced Mari. Betrayed her.

Mari must have seen the change in his expression because she looked at him, clearly concerned. "Are you okay?" She asked delicately.

"Mari?" he asked again, needing confirmation that this was really her.

Mari looked at him with a sympathetic expression. "I think you've got the wrong person kid."

"She doesn't remember Hiro." Ichigo affectionately used his son's childhood nickname.

Akihiro glanced at his father as he approached mother and son from the street. "Is this your son?" Mari asked Ichigo. Ichigo nodded and placed a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. "Good! I was a little worried about him. He seems a little out of it." Mari continued.

Ichigo smiled softly at Mari. Akihiro thought he detected a little bit of guilt in his father's brown eyes.

She seemed hesitant to end the conversation. For some reason, she was drawn to these two shinigami. "My name is Saka. Yamaro Saka."

Ichigo extended his hand. "Kurosaki Ichigo. And this is Kurosaki Akihiro."

Akihiro extended his hand for a handshake. "I've always loved the named Akihiro." Mari, or Saka, commented as the two shook hands.

"So, uh, how do you like Rukongai Mar-" Akihiro quickly corrected himself. "Saka?" He felt the need to know how she was doing.

Sake shrugged. "Its alright. I've been here for….ten, eleven years now? When you first get here, it's a little scary. You don't remember anything. Not your name, your family, nothing. But luckily I joined the Yamaro house. My mom gave me the name Saka and ever since then I've been living there and working as a tailor."

"The Yamaros?" Ichigo asked, hoping she would elaborate.

"Yeah, My mom, my older brother, and my younger brother. We don't have much, but we're happy to have each other." She explained.

"No kids?" Akihiro couldn't help asking.

Mari/Saka made a face. "God no. I think I'm a little young for that. Maybe if I find a baby in Rukongai one day, I'd be willing to be a mother. But not anytime soon."

"Saka!" A new voice interrupted. Saka looked in the direction where her name was being called.

"That's my brother. He isn't the biggest fan of Shinigamis so I should probably get going. Nice to meet you Ichigo and Akihiro!" She ran away waving jovially.

The Kurosakis watched her go. "I'm surprised you found her." Ichigo confided.

"It was just a crazy coincident. I wasn't even looking for her." Akihiro explained.

Ichigo checked his watch. "We're late to dinner. Your mom was worried about you and sent me out to get you."

"I was lost. I still don't know my way around here." Akihiro replied.

"Well, we should get back." The pair could have flash stepped, but instead they chose to walk in a comfortable silence.

It wasn't until they were half way home that they spoke again. "Did you…did you ever look for my mom?" Akihiro asked.

"A little when you were a baby." Ichigo admitted. "I wanted to see how she was. Make sure she was adjusting well. See if she remembered but I figured she wouldn't. I never found her though. Rukongai is a big place."

"I wanted to apologize when I saw her. But she doesn't remember. But I probably should have apologized anyway. I still killed her." Akihiro confessed.

Ichigo immediately stopped walking and crouched until he was eye level with his son, placing a comforting hand on each shoulder. "You have nothing to apologize for Akihiro. Mari loved, no, _loves _you. Every mother is willing to give up her life for her child. Every parent, for that matter." Ichigo explained.

Akihiro looked unconvinced, so Ichigo realized he was going to have to reveal something very personal. "You know, I've actually spent a lot of time in Rukongai looking for my mother. Usually when I'm feeling lonely and missing you guys." Ichigo confided. Akihiro didn't respond, so Ichigo continued. "I still haven't found her after all these years, but every time I'm here I can't help but hope that I'll see her."

"Why? She wouldn't remember you, right?" Akihiro asked.

Ichigo shrugged. "She probably wouldn't. But if she did remember I want her to see that I'm happy. That I've made something of myself. That her sacrifice wasn't in vain. And I also want to apologize because I blame myself for my mom's death. Everyone has told me it wasn't my fault, and as a parent myself now I know I would make the same decision she did a million times over. But I can't change how I feel. I killed her. If I wasn't here, she would still be alive." Ichigo finished.

"You think there's a Kurosaki curse?" Akihiro asked. His expression was so serious that Ichigo almost laughed.

"I wouldn't say it's a curse. I think us Kurosaki men just have the bad habit of blaming ourselves for things that we couldn't control. If anyone is responsible for Mari's death, it's me. Don't blame yourself Hiro."

Akihiro frowned. "So, let me get this straight. Grandma died for you. You blame yourself and Grandpa blames himself. Mari died for me. And I blame myself, but you blame yourself?"

Ichigo paused for a second to think about the irony before nodding. "That sounds about right."

"Man. I think I'll just avoid this whole repetition of the curse by not getting married or having kids at all. We're like black widows or something." Akihiro responded.

Ichigo frowned. "If you want a family, don't let this stop you. Bad things happen sometimes Akihiro. That's life."

Akihiro saw the wisdom in his father's words, but he still thought the possibility the Kurosaki men were cursed was something to look in to. He would have to tell Tsuyoshi later.

"We should probably get back. Mom is probably worried." Akihiro commented.

Ichigo released his son and rose to full height. "You're right. Let's get going."

….

….

Tracing reiatsu was harder in Soul Society. There were so many people with strong spiritual pressure that Orihime had to be fairly close to someone to be able to sense their pressure. Which is why she had been so worried when she couldn't feel Akihiro.

She and Ichigo barely spoke although they were living in the same house. They were sleeping in separate bedrooms and nothing had really been resolved since coming to Soul Society. But Orihime was willing to break giving him the silent treatment in order to ask him to look for Akihiro. But that had been over an hour ago and they still weren't back.

Had they been attacked? Had Akihiro snuck off to the material world to start his Bankai training with Urahara without telling her? He did seem to be in quite the rush lately to complete his training. Or, maybe Ichigo hadn't even gone to look. Some Soul Society emergency or something could have come up and now Akihiro was just roaming the streets alone! Or-

She only calmed from her panic when she felt both Ichigo and Akihiro approaching the 13th Squad Barracks. She let out a breath as her heart rate slowed down. They were okay.

As soon as Akihiro came though the door, Orihime practically smothered him in her hug. "I was so worried!" She managed to get out through relieved tears.

Akihiro patted her back comfortingly before attempting to escape. "I'm okay Mom." He reassured.

"Kaya-chan and Tsuyoshi-kun already ate, but I left some dinner out for you and your dad." Orihime explained.

Akihiro nodded and headed out of the living room and toward the kitchen. Orihime turned to her soon-to-be ex-husband. "Thank you for finding him." Her appreciative tone was genuine.

Ichigo let a small smile appear. "Anytime." He replied.

Orihime yawned. All the worrying had made her tired. "Well, goodnight." She murmured before heading off to the guest bedroom that had become her room.

Ichigo watched her go, wishing she was heading to his bedroom instead of her own. "Night." He replied.

…..

…..

A/N: And there you have chapter 6! I'm actually really excited about Chapter 7 so hopefully I'll get it written pretty quickly. Thank you to all my reviewers and favers and alerters! Now for reviewer responses!

RainingLight1: Didn't mean to make you cry! Story will be lighter from here on so hopefully no more tears!

Kat: You totally did not butcher my story! You are spot on and so eloquent! You actually explain it better than me. Hope you like the new chapter!

Guest: Thanks for reviewing!

Chuain: Glad you liked the chapter! And that was not a crazy rant, it was good to hear your perspective since I can't really see it from the male point of view!

ladycifer: Thanks for reviewing so consistently! Hope you can get back into our account!

Mayuka: Thank you for your review!

Nora: Kurosaki vs. Aizen showdown is coming up. And it will be epic. Thanks for reviewing!

DeathBerryLover1995: I'm making everyone cry unintentionally! : ( Hope you like the update!

Ermilus: I have Ichigo crying in two chapters in a row. He has gone soft. : p Getting through this will be hard work, but we'll see what happens!

Please review! Until next time.


	7. Chapter 7: Kato: The Ultimatum

A/N: Chapter 7! Sexual situations but I'm pretty sure this is still T rated. Enjoy! Also, if you haven't read it yet, I have a new One Shot series called Love and War. Check it out!

_~Flashback: Approximately 10 years ago~_

_They should stop. He needed to stop this before it went any further. _

_That was his first coherent thought in what felt like hours. But, fuck, where did she learn to do that with her tongue? His knees almost buckled at the sensation but he managed to catch himself by leaning one hand on the wall behind the orange haired pair. His other hand was currently preoccupied frantically undoing the buttons of Orihime's white button up shirt. _

_This had all happened very suddenly. Looking back on it now, Ichigo was still very fuzzy on the details. It had been like any other night. It had been a long day at work at the paper supply company he worked for. A day that was full of meetings where he was forced to listen to his moronic boss. Ichigo couldn't stand his boss. He was incompetent. _

_Ichigo had been relieved when it was finally time to go home. After a short subway ride, he was standing outside his apartment complex. He opened and shut the door silently, in case Akihiro was sleeping. But his silence was unnecessary since Orihime was in the living room sitting in the rocking chair with 6-month old Akihiro in her arms._

"_Welcome home Ichigo-kun!" She greeted happily. Now that they lived together, (even if it was only a professional arrangement) they were on a first name basis. _

"_Hey Orihime. How was he today?" He asked his son's live in nanny as he removed his shoes at the door. _

"_Akihiro is a little sick today. I think he has a cold so he has been a little fussy. I'm trying to get him to go to sleep now." She stated. _

_Ichigo walked over to the two and observed Akihiro. His eyelids were beginning to droop. "I think he's about to fall asleep."_

"_I'll put him to bed then." Orihime rose from the chair and headed down the hall to Akihiro's bedroom. _

_This is where Ichigo's memory became fuzzy. She had returned, they were talking, they ate a late dinner together, he was thinking about how pretty she is, and then the next thing he knew they were kissing. He wasn't even sure who had made the first move. It was probably him, since he did vaguely remember a look of shock on her face when he grabbed her hand._

_Well, what had led him to this point didn't really matter. Looking back on it now, he had wanted to kiss her for a very long time. Maybe even back in high school. And now he was doing it. He felt a surge of accomplishment._

_What matters is what he should do next. Which is probably stop this before it goes any further. She was Akihiro's nanny and his son was very attached to her. If this ended badly, it could ruin their relationship. Furthermore, technically she worked for him. He was crossing professional boundaries with every searing kiss. He needed to pull away now and they could talk this over, agree to be just friends. This is what the sensible part of him was telling him. But another part of him urged him to continue. A part of him that sounds suspiciously like his hollow, but he was willing to overlook that at the moment. _

_Her hands were trembling as she undid the buttons of his burgundy work shirt. He momentarily broke the kiss and shrugged out of his shirt, letting it join her shirt in a pile on the kitchen floor. _

_He renewed kissing her with vigor, sweeping his tongue through her mouth. Her lip-gloss tasted good. Like watermelon. Her tongue tangled around his as he continued to explore her mouth. _

_He needed to be closer. It seemed she had similar ideas since she wrapped her legs around his waist. He used one hand to cup her bottom and push her up so they were eye level. _

_He kissed a trail down her neck, sucking on her pulse and leaving a hickey. He looked proudly at his work before returning his attention to her lips. God. She had great lips. Full and soft and pliable. _

"_Ichigo." She whispered huskily between fervent kisses. God. She was so sexy. He wanted her. He ground his hips into hers in response, enjoying the moan that slipped past her lips._

_Now, what had he been thinking about? She tugged his hair lightly as she left her own love mark on his neck. He groaned. That felt good. Oh yeah, stopping this. _

_In the six months since Mari died, dating hadn't really crossed his mind. He had his hands full with Akihiro and work. Having a child made him feel older, more mature. But he was still a red blooded 23-year old man and he had needs. Orihime bit his bottom lip. His erection throbbed painfully._

_How long had it been? A year, he realized. He hadn't had sex in a full year. That was a long time. And how long had he mourned Mari? 6 months. Was that long enough? Isshin was still mourning Masaki. As far as he knew, his dad had never dated anyone else following Masaki's tragic death. But then again, he had never loved Mari the way Isshin loved Masaki. He frowned at his line of thinking, feeling renewed guilt for Mari's tragic fate._

_He had always had a thing for Orihime. Even when he had other girlfriends, he found himself thinking of her. He never pursued anything with her because he had a hard time believing she would have been interested. But judging by her current response to his kisses, he had been wrong. He wouldn't say he loved her or anything, but there was definitely physical attraction. And she was one of his best friends. He liked her. You could build a relationship off of that. Love could come with time. _

_He worked on removing her long skirt. Growing frustrated when he couldn't undo the button, he popped it off. It hit the floor with a plink. Orihime unwrapped her legs from around him. Her skirt fell to the floor, leaving her in only a bra and panties. _

"_Lets go to the bedroom." Ichigo suggested. He watched her face. At first, she looked a little hesitant. Maybe she had the same reservations he did about this. Were they moving too fast? But then her expression cleared and she nodded resolutely. Ichigo smiled and kissed her once again before leading her to his bedroom._

_The rest of their clothes were quickly discarded in a trail leading from the door to the bed. Ichigo looked her over from head to toe as she lay underneath him on top of the covers. She flushed and tried to resist her instinct to cover up. "You're beautiful." Ichigo assured before kissing her once again._

_This kiss was gentler than the ones they had shared before. It was almost lazy, but still passionate. Just as Ichigo prepared to finally make her his, she stopped him. _

"_I'm sorry, but I don't want to be a convenient booty call. We should probably stop." Orihime explained. _

"_You're not going to be a booty call. And before you ask, no, you're not a one-night stand or a friend with benefits either. I care about you Orihime. As more than a friend." Ichigo confessed. _

_Orihime smiled. "Really?"_

_Ichigo rolled his eyes. "No, not really. I'm just lying so you'll have sex with me." He answered sarcastically. Then to make sure there was no confusion, he answered seriously. "Yes, really."_

"_I care about you too. A lot." Orihime confessed. She neglected to tell him she was in love with him. That might sound a little crazy. ._

_Ichigo kissed her again. Her lips were addicting. Once again, he prepared to enter her. "Ready?" He asked, giving her the chance to back out if she wanted._

_But she nodded, and they spent the rest of the night showing each other just how much they cared._

…_._

…_._

Ichigo awoke suddenly. He groaned when he saw his sheets were wet. Great. He was a 33-year old man having a wet dream as if he was a teenager. Even more pathetically, his dream wasn't even a fantasy with some unattainable super model. It was a memory of his first time with his wife. This separation was killing him, slowly but surely.

They hadn't had any intimate contact in 6 months. They had been living in the same house in Soul Society for two months. Sleeping in adjoining bedrooms. Every night, it took ever bit of self-control he could muster to stop himself from sneaking into her room in the middle of the night. She was probably as sexually frustrated as he was. He was convinced that although she might initially be averse to his affections, if he went in there eventually she would succumb to what they both wanted.

But that could just be wishful thinking on his part. He really had no idea of where their relationship stood. She had told him she would wait until the baby was born to file for divorce, but obviously that wasn't going to happen now. So what were they doing? Right now, it seemed like they had an unsteady truce. Ichigo didn't bring up reconciliation, and Orihime didn't bring up divorce.

But they couldn't just stay in limbo. Eventually, they were going to have to talk. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

….

….

"Do you have all your stuff?" Ichigo asked Akihiro, who had just recently turned 11.

Akihiro searched though his backpack one last time. "Yeah, I think I've got everything."

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, wishing he could stay here in Urahara's training center to supervise Akihiro's training. But he had his own training to do in Soul Society and Kaya and Tsuyoshi still needed his help to attain Shikai.

"If Urahara tries to do anything weird, you can always refuse. Nothing too dangerous, understand?" Ichigo's tone was strict.

Akihiro nodded. Ichigo hugged his son goodbye, sent a threatening glare at Urahara, and then hopped back into the Senkaimon gate to return to Soul Society.

As soon as he entered the gate, the Shinigami Captain realized something didn't feel right. He looked around. He didn't see anything, but he felt it. The reiatsu. Someone else was in here.

"Kurosaki Ichigo. We meet at last." Out of the shadows, a man emerged.

Ichigo clenched his fists. There was no doubt who this stranger was. Without another word, the Shinigami Captain attacked.

Their Zanpakutōs clashed, sparks flying from the intensity. "You remind me of my sister, Mayuko." Ichigo growled at the name, remembering that she was the one responsible for the death of his son. "Attacking rashly. Without even an attempt of reaching a compromise." Aizen Kato criticized.

Ichigo ground his teeth. "I have nothing to say to you. I just hope you're not immortal like your brother. Because I want you dead." Ichigo replied before attempting another strike.

Kato blocked again. "I guess I'll just have to force you to listen then." With that said, Kato took the offensive, striking wildly.

Ichigo parried and blocked every strike, but he was getting pushed back. And there was only so much room inside the Dangai. Before he knew it, Ichigo had almost been pushed against the wall. Ichigo tried not to show it, but he was surprised at Kato's strength. It had been a long time since Ichigo had felt challenged in a battle, and as of now he actually seemed to be losing.

He knew he couldn't release his Bankai or use any kidou in the Dangai. It was too dangerous. It had been a very long time since he had to rely on hand-to-hand combat. He frowned as one of Kato's strikes came dangerously close to his ear.

"I don't agree with all my brother's actions." Kato suddenly confessed.

Ichigo was surprised, and Kato used his surprise against him with a vicious slice to his leg. Ichigo hissed in pain, collapsing to the ground since he couldn't put weight on his right leg.

"Sōsuke does a lot of things that are unnecessary. He hurts people he doesn't have to hurt. So does Mayuko. Killing your child was completely unnecessary." Kato tried to stab Ichigo through his chest, but he blocked so the wound was much more shallow than Kato intended. It still hurt like a bitch though.

"But Sōsuke's mission isn't wrong. The Spirit King needs to die. It's for the greater good. And destroying Karakura town is a necessary evil. I imagine you don't care as much as you once did. Your family isn't there anymore." Kato explained.

"My father and sisters live there. My friends live there. I won't let you destroy Karakura." Ichigo's rage was fueling him. He managed to ignore the pain in his leg and get back to his feet. He flash stepped over to Kato and swung, hitting the dark haired Aizen lookalike in the stomach. Blood poured from the wound.

For the first time during the fight, Kato lost his indifferent air. He staggered a little and groaned in pain. But he quickly recovered, flash stepping away when Ichigo tried to follow up with a strike to his neck.

"Once Sōsuke is released, there will be nothing you can do to stop us." He punctuated his threat with another vicious strike. Ichigo managed to block, but he was pushed back into the wall, resulting in bruises all over his back. The wall's defenses enacted and tried to suck him in. He managed to use Zangetsu to free himself, but he fell to the floor, resulting in more bruises all over the front part of his body. Ichigo winced as he rose once again.

"If you realize that your psychotic brother is dangerous, why do you want him released?" Ichigo asked.

"We can not kill the Spirit King without him. And we can't afford to wait 20,000 years. After the Spirit King is killed, I would be willing to help you re-imprison him. " Kato replied.

"What makes you think I can convince the Central 46 or the Captain Commander to release Aizen?" Ichigo questioned, wondering what the Aizens motives were for attacking him and his family. Sure, he had been the one to ultimately defeat Aizen if this was about revenge, but it had been a group effort involving all of Soul Society.

"I don't think you can convince them. I want you to turn on them and help us. You defeated my brother. You, I, Mayuko, and our subordinates can defeat the Captain Commander." Kato answered.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "And if I don't?"

"Then we'll kill the rest of your children. And your wife. As you watch." Kato threatened.

Ichigo roared before attacking. He swung wildly, driven by his rage. In the back of his mind, he realized he needed to calm down. His anger was making him reckless. He had no strategy; he wasn't even thinking about blocking, he was completely focused on killing Kato. Familiar black started to invade his eyes.

"**Come on King. Let me at him." **His Hollow hissed.

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock. He thought he had his Hollow under control. He gripped his head as he tried to keep the Hollow from taking over.

Kato immediately took advantage of his distraction. Attacking and attacking until Ichigo was barely conscious. He was losing a lot of blood. He tried to block halfheartedly, but Kato had slashed his eyes at some point and now he could barely see.

"We'll free our brother and destroy Karakura with or without your cooperation. It will be easier for everyone if you're with us, but if you'd rather be against us you still won't be able to protect everyone you care about. You had the element of surprise before, but Mayuko and I have done our research on you Kurosaki Ichigo. And we've been training these last 18 years. You won't defeat us."

"Ichigo! Ichigo! Where are you?!" Rukia's voice carried through the Dangai.

"Think it over Kurosaki Ichigo. Are you with us, or against us?" With that said, Kato disappeared.

Rukia came running, Renji trailing behind her. "Ichigo! Shit, he's really messed up. We have to get him to Inoue! Renji, help me lift him-"

The panicked voices of Rukia and Renji faded along with his consciousness.

….

…

When he woke up, he was surrounded by a familiar orange glow. He could feel his injuries healing, and they were healing very quickly. He turned his head to the side to see his wife, an intense look on her face as she concentrated on healing him. She had definitely improved her healing technique over the last two months. He had been on the brink of death, and it seemed as if she effortlessly brought him back.

He tried to sit up. She waved her hands frantically, telling him to stop. "You're not fully healed yet. And you'll probably be sore for a couple of days. You were…you were in really bad shape Ichigo-kun. I'm glad you're alright."

He turned his head away from her. "You can stop healing me now. I won't die. Don't strain yourself."

Orihime frowned. "Why don't you want me to heal you?"

He couldn't help but answer honestly. "Because I deserve to hurt."

Her pretty face contorted at his words. "Ichigo-kun-" He interrupted her quickly.

"I was reckless. I'm always reckless. That's why Kato and Mayuko are still out there. That's why everyone is still in danger. I got upset and the Hollow tried to take over-" This time, Orihime interrupted.

"Your Hollow? But didn't the Vizards teach you how to keep him repressed?" Orihime asked.

"He can get out whenever I feel any strong emotion if I'm not careful. But I wasn't even thinking and it almost got me killed. Maybe it would have been better if I had died. They would have no reason to target you or the kids with me out of the picture. You guys are probably better off without me"

Orihime's eyes filled with tears. "How could you ever think that? Your kids need you, Ichigo-kun." She reassured.

He looked at her through her healing shield. "You don't need me."

She broke the eye contact. "But….._I do._" When she turned back to look at him, her eyes were even more watery than before. "When Kuchicki-san and Renji-kun brought you here to the Fourth Division and I saw how injured you were, _I hurt. _I could barely breathe. I was so worried that you might not pull through. And all I could think about was how stupid this whole situation is. And how I would never be able to forgive myself if you died with us _like this. _And I wouldn't feel this way if I were over you. I still love you Ichigo-kun. And that kills me because I still don't think we can fix this." She confided.

He rose himself to a fully seated position. He really wished he wasn't trapped in her healing shield so he could touch her, but he would have to wait. "We _can _fix this. We have to fix this. We're a family and we need to stick together. We have too many enemies to be fighting each other."

Orihime sighed and looked away, continuing to heal him. Once she had done all she could, she allowed her shield to fall. Before she knew it, she was in his arms. "Careful, Ichigo-kun! You're not completely-" She was cut off when he kissed her.

He had missed this, he decided as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. Almost getting killed was totally worth it if it brought them back together again. They could fix this. He knew it. He gripped her face as he deepened the kiss.

…..

….

A/N: So there is Chapter 7! Thank you to my reviewers LuvleeCookieChan, Xtremefairy, RainingLight1, momochie, mel, Ermilus, Guest, Frezia, mayuka, DeathBerryLover1995, Chuain, and Nora! I was so excited to get so many reviews! And the people who favorited and alerted! You guys are awesome!

Until the next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8: Kaya: Pacifist

**Important Author's Note**: So after actually reading the rating guidelines, I've realized this is probably M and not T. So I changed that. Also, summer is about to end and I'm going back to school, so updates will slow down. Judging by how I normally update when I'm at school, I would say this probably won't get updated until at least October, December worst case scenario. But it will be finished eventually! Without further ado, here is Chapter 8!

_Approximately 9 months Ago:_

_Kaya smiled up at her parents, holding her dad's hand with her left hand and her mom's with her right. This was great! Dad was home! He had promised his only daughter that he would be here for her first day of Kindergarten and he kept his word! Tsuyoshi-nii had told her not to get her hopes up, but he was wrong! _

_She positively beamed at her father as she thought of just how lucky she was. He ruffled her auburn hair affectionately with his free hand. _

"_Oww! Mom! Tsuyoshi kicked me!" Akihiro complained from behind his parents and sister._

"_Tsuyoshi! Stop being a brat!" Ichigo barked, turning around and glaring at his miniature._

_Tsuyoshi glowered, glaring at Akihiro for being a tattletale when his parents weren't looking. _

_Kaya began to get nervous when the tell tale walls of Karakura Elementary School appeared in her view. Kindergarten was going to be so different from pre-school. In pre-school, she was actually in her mother's class so she had never felt this anxiety. She wasn't going to know anyone. And Kaya was painfully shy around strangers. _

_She stopped walking and let go of her parents' hands in favor of wringing her pink dress worriedly. She turned her tear filled green eyes to her mother. "Mommy, I don't want to go today. I don't feel good. Please don't make me go Mommy."_

_Orihime was known for being the pushover out of the two parents and at the sight of her daughter's tears she started to tear up herself. She looked to be on the verge of giving in so Ichigo quickly interrupted. _

_He knelt so he was eye level with his daughter. "Kaya, what are you afraid of? I thought you were going to be my brave big girl today, right?"_

_The little girl nodded, but she was still sniffling and wringing her hands. _

"_Tsuyoshi and Akihiro loved kindergarten, right boys?" Ichigo asked. _

_Akihiro nodded and smiled reassuringly at his little sister. Tsuoyoshi shrugged. "It was alright." At Ichigo's glare, he quickly amended his answer. "I mean, yeah, I loved it. Best year of my life." _

"_But Daddy, what if the other kids don't like me?" Kaya asked, tears welling up anew. _

_Ichigo frowned. "Why wouldn't they like you?"_

"_Because of my hair! Yoshi-nii gets picked on and has to fight all the time because of his hair!" Kaya replied. _

"_Tsuyoshi gets into fights because of more than his hair Kaya. You know how his attitude is." Ichigo comforted. _

"_Hey!" Tsuyoshi complained, obviously offended at his character being insulted. Ichigo ignored him. _

"_Kaya, you are a Kurosaki. And I'm about to reveal a big secret to you. Kurosaki blood is special. That's why you can see ghosts. With special Kurosaki blood, you have no reason to be afraid of something like Kindergarten. We are from a long line of brave and strong men and women. In fact, I'm pretty sure we are distantly related to the most famous Samurai of all time. So, can you be brave for Daddy today?" Ichigo concluded his pep talk. _

_Kaya nodded resolutely and wiped away the rest of her tears. "I can! I'm going to be brave! Just like Daddy!"_

…_._

…

"Kaya, let me carry the Tamagoyaki." Tsuyoshi requested as he watched his sister warily.

Kaya pushed some of her messy morning hair out of her eyes, the tray wobbling as she did so. "But why? It was my idea, I want to carry it in!" Kaya rebutted.

"Leave her alone. It was her idea." Akihiro defended Kaya.

"You know she's going to drop it. Besides Mom, she is honestly the most clumsy person I know." Tsuyoshi rebutted.

Kaya was known to be overly sensitive, and at her brother's words her eyes started to tear up.

Tsuyoshi's eyes softened at the appearance of tears in Kaya's eyes. "Ok, ok, you can carry it." He relented. She smiled triumphantly.

The three pajama clad Kurosakis started the trek upstairs with the freshly prepared Tamagoyaki. Soon, they reached their destination. Akihiro opened the door and the three poured into their parents' room.

Their parents were sound asleep. Kaya smiled when she saw that they were sleeping in each other's arms. After Ichigo's near death experience two weeks ago, they had started to try to rebuild their marriage. And so far, it seemed to be going well. After all, they were sleeping in the same room again.

Since Kaya was holding the tray, Akihiro and Tsuyoshi took it upon themselves to wake their parents. In a rare show of teamwork between the brothers, both boys hopped onto the bed. Akihiro held up three fingers, then two, then one, and then both boys yelled "Happy birthday Dad!" in unison.

Ichigo woke up immediately, shooting up into a seated position as he glanced around the room wildly before gathering his wits again. Orihime groaned before rubbing her eyes as her two boys jumped on the bed to wake her as well.

"Happy birthday Daddy! We made you Tamagoyaki!" Kaya walked toward the bed, almost tripping before hastily rebalancing the tray. She smiled when it didn't fall and then made the rest of the trip toward the bed more carefully.

Ichigo smiled at his youngest child as he took the tray from her. "Thank you." He hesitated before taking a bite of his breakfast. Knowing Kaya's and Tsuyoshi's tastes, they might have put something weird in it. His gaze drifted over to his dark haired son. But Akihiro was there to supervise, so he probably would have stopped them. With that reasoning, he took a bite of the Tamagoyaki. It was pretty good.

"Thanks guys." Ichigo spoke through mouthfuls of food. "This is really thoughtful. "

Orihime sat up and stared at her husband's food, her mouth practically watering as if it was donuts. Ichigo took one more bite before handing the food over. "But Ichigo-kun, its for your birthday. You only turn 34 once! I couldn't possibly-"

"Orihime, you're practically drooling. And the kids made a lot. I couldn't possibly eat all of it." Ichigo insisted.

"Well, if you insist." Orihime muttered before basically wolfing down the food. When she was done, he tenderly brushed a crumb from her face before leaning in for a short kiss.

Tsuyoshi's face twisted in disgust at his parents' display of affection, but he wisely kept his mouth shut for once.

"So, what are your birthday plans Daddy? Can we go to the real world to visit Grandpa and Aunts Yuzu, Karin, and Tatsuki?" Kaya asked hopefully. Although she liked Soul Society, she missed all her friends and family in the Material World.

Ichigo smiled apologetically. "Sorry Kaya, but I have a very important meeting to attend today."

"What meeting?" Orihime asked.

"All the Captains and Vice-Captains are meeting today to discuss what we need to do about the Aizen problem. You can come too." Ichigo reminded his wife. He then returned his attention to his children. "So, no training today. Take a day off. Get to know Soul Society a little better or something."

….

…

"Ukitake-san, why didn't you go to the meeting?" Kaya asked Ukitake as she followed him through his small garden.

He wiped the sweat from his brow. "I stepped down Kaya-chan, the meeting is only for current Captains and Vice-Captains. If I was needed to fight of course I would, but I no longer concern myself with the daily running of Soul Society or the politics." He explained to the little girl.

Each Kurosaki child had come to find a Shinigami they looked up to above all others. For Kaya, it was Ukitake. She liked his even temperament and how he always had time for her since he was no longer an active Shinigami. Kaya was not really interested in training for a war. She had realized she was never going to be a fighter, and instead had focused on improving her event rejection and healing techniques. Ukitake let her practice on his dying and wilting plants.

Tsuyoshi had become very close to Rukia, even closer than they had been when the Kurosakis lived in Karakura. Kaya suspected that Tsuyoshi probably reminded Rukia a lot of Ichigo so she was enjoying repeating history. After all, she was the first person to train Kurosaki Ichigo and he was doing quite well for himself, maybe Tsuyoshi could be even stronger? Doubtful based on his current work ethic, but maybe with age.

Akihiro spent a lot of time with many different Shinigami, but he had become especially close to Captain Hitsugaya. They got along well since physically they seemed to be around the same age but in terms of maturity, they both seemed a lot older. Also, Hitsugaya was always willing to help Akihiro train, which was something that was very important to the eldest Kurosaki child.

Ukitake finished weeding the plant he was working on. He wiped some more sweat from his brow before turning toward the child who he now considered to be almost a daughter. He noticed her eyebrows were furrowed and she was nowhere near as talkative as she usually was.

"Is something wron-" His question was interrupted when he was suddenly overcome with a coughing fit. He tried to turn away so Kaya wouldn't notice the blood that was now seeping through his hands that he had used to cover his mouth. But she saw the blood.

Her eyes watered. "Ukitake-san, are you very sick?"

He couldn't lie to the little girl, so instead he said nothing, unable to meet her tearful green doe eyes.

"Did…did Mommy ever try to heal you? To reverse it? Maybe I can help Ukitake-san. I'm not as strong as Mommy, but I could still do something. I want…I want to help Ukitake-san." Her hands automatically reached for her snowflake shaped birthmark on her neck, preparing to call forth her fairies.

Ukitake signaled for her to stop. "Of course she did Kaya-chan, but there is nothing to reverse. I was born sick. It would be unnatural to change that. You're not God, don't try to take on his responsibilities."

Ukitake coughed a few times more before he felt it pass. He cleared his throat before attempting to speak again. "That is the problem with Shinigamis and Soul Society. We act like we are Gods. We decide the fate of others. But we are not all knowing like a God would be. Godly powers and human error is quite a dangerous combination indeed."

….

…

"We will not negotiate with terrorists." Yamamoto Genryūsai's word was usually final, but Ichigo's family was the one on the line, not his.

"So what are you proposing we do? Just continue to let them pick off my family one by one?" Ichigo asked angrily.

"Ichigo-" Rukia attempted to interrupt, but the Captain Commander spoke over her.

"The Aizens will be taken care of. Just in this room, there are 27 of us versus the two of them. They stand no chance against Soul Society's army." Yamamoto insisted.

"It is not just the two of them Yamamoto-sama. They claim to have their own army. And they do not abide by Soul Society's strict rules of fighting conduct. They are vicious, and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals." Orihime rebutted.

"Pshh. Rules of fighting conduct? This is war, woman! You do what you have to do to make sure the other guy is dead." Kenpachi chimed in.

"How do we know they're not immortal like their brother?" Even after all these years, Hinamori still found it difficult to utter Aizen's name so she worded around it in her question.

"That's my point. We know absolutely nothing about them. Except that they are strong and dangerous and they want my family dead if I don't help them free their brother." Ichigo replied.

"So, what is your plan Captain Kurosaki? Would you rather take your chances and join the enemy side? Because I assure you, I will not allow you to survive after such a betrayal." Soi Fon threatened.

The meeting was starting to get out of control, several captains and vice captains speaking over one another.

"Enough!" The Captain Commander shouted. Instantly, all the chatter died down and the room descended into a tense silence. "As I said, we will not negotiate. We will wait for them to strike again, and then we will counter attack. Captain Kurosaki, since they are specifically targeting your family you will have around the clock security. Your children will not go anywhere alone."

Ichigo clenched his fists, unconvinced that security could completely protect his children. Orihime placed a comforting hand on his knee. He glanced down at her dainty hand. She was wearing her wedding ring again. He was glad. He turned to look at her and instantly calmed. They would get through this. With or without Soul Society's help. This was not a situation where they could afford to wait and be pacifists. If he had to fight this war alone, he would do it.

….

…

"Mommy? Daddy?" Kaya called as she entered her parents' bedroom. No one replied, but it was late so they were probably asleep. She walked further into the room, pulling up her yellow pajama pants that were too big for her. "I had a nightmare. I'm scared." Kaya confessed as she neared the bed.

"Daddy?" She called, louder this time.

Ichigo stirred and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Kaya?" He asked as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

Kaya nodded. "Where's Mommy? Are you guys fighting again?"

Ichigo momentarily sat so he could pick up Kaya and place her on his lap. "Of course not. We love you kids too much to fight anymore. The 11th Squad had some kind of idiotic fight to the death competition. Your mom had to go help the 4th Squad heal those morons."

"Good. I'm glad you guys aren't fighting anymore. Because Mommy loves you a lot Daddy."

Ichigo smiled and placed a kiss to the top of Kaya's head. "I love her a lot too. And I love you and your brothers." He glanced at the clock, seeing it was 2:00 AM. "Why are you awake, Kaya?"

Kaya snuggled deeper into his lap. "I had a nightmare."

"About what?"

"Are you afraid to die Daddy?"

The little girl's question startled him. "Why are you asking me this Kaya?"

Kaya looked down at her parents' white comforter. "Ukitake-san is dying Daddy. But if everyone in Soul Society is already dead, what happens when they die again?"

Ichigo wasn't sure if he was comfortable having a discussion about death with his five-year-old daughter. She was still so young that her understanding of death should be very vague, but he had been the one to drag her into this. She was in Soul Society. She was surrounded by death. His enemies had threatened to kill her. He swallowed, for the first time really seeing why Orihime had insisted on staying in the Material World.

"I don't know. I've heard that you are reincarnated in the Real World, but there is no way to know for sure. But Kaya, death is a natural process. Ukitake has lived a long life. And he has been sick as long as I've known him, he could still have years left." Ichigo tried to comfort.

"Do you think we're going to die Daddy? Those people, they want us dead, right?" With her last question, she turned in his lap to meet his gaze.

There was poignant silence. "Kaya, I promise I am not going to let them hurt you."

"But what about you Daddy?"

Ichigo wanted to promise her that he would be all right as well, but he didn't know for sure. He would die to protect his family, and based on the way things were going he might have to.

"Do you want to sleep here tonight Kaya?" He finally responded, avoiding her question altogether.

Kaya nodded sleepily, letting out a big yawn in the process. Ichigo lifted Kaya off his lap and settled her on the bed beside him. He pulled the comforter over both of them, wrapping an arm around his daughter. "Good night Daddy." Kaya mumbled softly. Pretty much immediately after the statement, her soft breathing indicated she had fallen asleep.

Ichigo remained awake for hours afterwards, pondering life and death and all his life's decisions.

…..

…

End of Chapter 8! It might be awhile for the next chapter but it is coming! Please review!

Thank you to all my readers and reviewers!

Review Responses:

Guest: Here is the update! Hope you liked it!

LuvleeCookieChan: I really enjoyed the last chapter too since they are finally back together. Even I was sick of all the drama and I wrote it. Lol.

sashikibuta: I'm glad you like the story! Hopefully, you'll keep reading.

DeathBerryLover1995: Haha, smexy liars indeed. Thanks for reviewing!

Xtremefairy: Thank you, glad you liked it! Hopefully you like this chapter too!

VampyreAtHeart: I'm glad you like this so much! Especially since you're not a big Ichi/Hime fan.

hapezibah: Speechless? That is quite the compliment, thank you!

Ermilus: Glad you liked the flashback, I was super nervous about it, especially since I was trying to keep it from going to M. But I failed. Lol. Thanks for reviewing!

naruhinasauluv: Thank you! They are trying to work it out, I hope they can do it too!


	9. Chapter 9: Tsuyoshi: Fighter

A/N: So….it was worse case scenario. But I promised a chapter in December, so you're getting a new chapter. Unfortunately, I'm going to be busy these next few months too but I'm going to try to update more frequently. And this story will be finished eventually no matter what. Anyway, here is chapter 9!

_Approximately 19 months ago_

_Tsuyoshi rubbed his hand against his busted lip. He regarded the blood on his hand with disdain before slouching into his seat, resigning himself to his fate. Only a month into first grade, and Kurosaki Tsuyoshi had already had his first trip to the principal's office. _

_Despite how many times his father had told him pouting was unbecoming, he couldn't wipe the pout from his face. It was so unfair. Why was he even in trouble? He was just defending himself. He ran a hand through his bright orange locks irritably. This stupid hair had brought him nothing but trouble. _

_Tsuyoshi had been minding his own business, eating lunch with two of his friends, when suddenly their lunchtime discussion about the latest Don Kanoji episode was interrupted as three dark shadows hovered over their table. _

_Tsuyoshi's friends who were facing the bullies, Keiko and Yuu, froze with fear. Tsuyoshi wasn't afraid and turned to confront the bullies. _

_They were a lot bigger than Tsuyoshi, but that didn't intimidate him. He was pretty sure he recognized the three boys from Akihiro's class, which made them three years older than him. The three boys all had a similar appearance. Black hair, dark brown eyes, and all dressed in T-shirts advertising a popular anime. All three also shared a similar expression. An expression that clearly said they were looking for trouble._

"_Kurosaki?" The tallest, and probably the ringleader of this little gang of hooligans, asked._

_Tsuyoshi narrowed his eyes. "Who wants to know?" He challenged._

_The second bully, who had braces, leaned towards his taller friend. "Is that really him? He doesn't look a thing like his brother."_

"_That's because he dyes his hair." The third bully replied. _

_Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to say it? This is my natural hair color."_

_Bully number three frowned. "That is not your natural hair color. Your brother is in our class and he has black hair."_

"_He's my half brother. Both my parents have orange hair. So I got orange hair." Tsuyoshi explained, clearly exasperated with having to have this conversation multiple times. _

"_You know, my little sister Aima has quite the crush on you. Because of your stupid bleached blonde hair." The tall bully continued. _

_Tsuyoshi wracked his brain for who Aima could be, but came up with nothing. He was never really good with names. And being only in the first grade, he definitely wasn't interested in girls. He was pretty sure they all had cooties. _

"_Stay away from my sister Kurosaki." The tall bully said menacingly, cracking his knuckles threateningly. _

"_I don't even know your sister." Tsuyoshi replied, turning back around to finish his lunch. Hw noticed his friends had run off, no doubt afraid of the older boys. Tsuyoshi couldn't help but feel disappointed. Some friends they were. _

_The tallest bully narrowed his eyes, not liking how Tsuyoshi was so easily dismissing him. "Hey!" He roughly gripped Tsuyoshi's shoulder and turned him around to face him again. "I'm not done talking to you."_

_Tsuyoshi shoved the older boy's hand off his shoulder. "Don't touch me." Tsuyoshi said, glaring at the bigger boy. _

"_Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it? Are you gonna make me stop?" The bully punctuated each statement with a rough shove._

_Tsuyoshi dropped his unfinished sandwich on the lunch table and wiped his hands before standing up to confront the bully. Although he was only eye level with the bully's chest, he raised his head to boldly make eye contact. "If you want a fight, you'll get a fight." Tsuyoshi warned._

"_Kick his ass!" The bully with braces yelled, punching his fist in the air excitedly._

"_Yeah, teach him a lesson!" Bully number three added. _

_Other children began to crowd the four, sensing a fight coming on. This also attracted the lunch monitor's attention, who began to hurry toward the boys. But before the lunch monitor could reach them, the bully threw a punch. _

_Tsuyoshi dodged and the bully only managed to graze his lips. Tsuyoshi winced. That hurt. The bully came at him again, and Tsuyoshi ducked before throwing an uppercut. A tooth flew threw the air as the bully fell to the ground, cradling his probably broken jaw._

_Bullies 2 and 3 rushed Tsuyoshi together. They managed to get a few good blows in before Tsuyoshi went on the offensive, punching one in the stomach before kicking the other hard in the shin. _

"_Fight! Fight! Fight!" The other children chanted as they formed a circle around the melee. The lunch monitor struggled through the crowd. When he reached the boys, the three bullies were all on the ground. Only Tsuyoshi was still standing. From someone who hadn't seen the whole thing, it looked pretty incriminating. _

_Which brings us back to the present when Tsuyoshi is sitting in the principal's office waiting to receive his punishment. The bullies were currently with the nurse, but Tsuyoshi assumed, or at least hoped, they would be in trouble too. They had started it after all._

_Tsuyoshi straightened up when the door opened and the tell tale sound of the principal's heels reached his ears. She took her seat across from him and ruffled through the report of the incident before raising her hazel eyes to look at Tsuyoshi. _

"_Kurosaki Tsuyoshi. I was wondering how far into the school year we could get before you ended up in my office."_

"_They started it!" Tsuyoshi defended, crossing his arms irritably. _

_The principal leaned forward, massaging her temples as she felt a headache coming on. "Kurosaki-chan, let's not pretend like this is your first fight."_

"_I didn't start any of those fights either! The other kids are always picking on me! I can't just do nothing." Tsuyoshi retaliated._

"_I'm not going to debate this with you Kurosaki-chan. What I am going to do is call your parents and then we can all discuss your behavioral problems together." _

"_But my mom can't come. She's a pre-school teacher."_

"_Then we'll just call your dad and see if he can get off work." The principal reached for her phone. _

_Tsuyoshi scoffed. "Good luck with that. He's never home." He couldn't exactly explain about the whole Soul Society thing, besides she didn't really need to know. _

_She narrowed her eyes, not liking that she was getting attitude from a first grader. "Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?" She dialed and waited several moments for a response. _

_Tsuyoshi had to fight his urge to roll his eyes. Obviously, no one was going to answer. The principal was just going to have to talk to his mom at some other time. And hopefully no time soon. Tsuyoshi hated it when his mom was upset with him, and this was definitely something that would upset her._

"_Hello? Kurosaki-san?" The principal said. Tsuyoshi's face reflected his puzzlement. Someone answered?_

"_This is Retshu Shu, Tsuyoshi's principal. We've had an incident and I would appreciate it if you could come down to the school so we could all discuss this together." She paused as she listened to whatever the person on the other line was saying. "Okay, see you soon." She hung up and smirked satisfactorily at Tsuyoshi. "Your dad will be here in 20 minutes."_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Tsuyoshi pouted and kicked pebbles irritably as he followed behind his father's long legged strides in the parking lot. He was suspended for the rest of the day, so his dad was taking him home. _

_The discussion hadn't gone well. The principal had made it out like it was all Tsuyoshi's fault and he had not been permitted to interrupt and defend himself. His dad kept casting disappointed looks his way. Tsuyoshi glared at the back of his dad's head as the duo stopped at the car. It was just like his dad to not take his own son's side. He never took Tsuyoshi's side. _

_Tsuyoshi always felt like his parents favored Kaya, since she was the baby, and Akihiro, since he was the oldest, over him. The dreaded unloved middle child syndrome. But Tsuyoshi wasn't the kind of person who was going to sit around feeling sorry for himself. Which is part of the reason he didn't let people get away with picking on him. He wasn't going to be a victim. If he had to fight to avoid that, then he was going to fight. _

"_This has to stop Tsuyoshi." His father finally spoke to him once the two were seated in the car. _

"_What are you even doing home? Did Soul Society force you to come home and spend time with your family?" Tsuyoshi asked defensively. _

"_Don't change the subject. We are talking about you. And the fighting needs to stop Tsuyoshi. Every time this happens, you know how upset you make your mother. You need to stop this. Now." _

_Tsuyoshi glared angrily. "I can't make it stop. I never start it. I just finish it."_

"_I don't care who starts it. You don't always have to respond by punching someone. Next time, walk away. Be the bigger person."_

"_So in Soul Society do you walk away? Or do you fight?" Tsuyoshi challenged. _

"_That's different." Ichigo responded, clearly exasperated. _

"_It's not. If someone wants to fight me, then they're going to get a fight. You fight people all the time." Tsuyoshi accused._

"_I only fight to protect the people I care about, not because I like fighting." Ichigo replied, looking at his son through the rearview mirror all the while. _

"_If you don't even like fighting, then why do you spend all your time fighting in Soul Society instead of with me or Akihiro or Kaya?" Tsuyoshi blurted out. _

"_Because I love you and I want the world to be a safe place for you." Ichigo answered. _

_Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes. "Sure."_

"_I'm not going to lie to you. There was a time when I was younger when I really enjoyed fighting. Being able to hurt other people made me feel powerful, important. But as I got older, I realized there is a lot more to life than petty revenge. And that fighting rarely resolves anything." Ichigo revealed. _

_Tsuyoshi had been staring out the window, but now he met his father's gaze in the rearview mirror. "So if I like fighting, if I like being able to hurt people, does that make me a bad person?" The child asked._

_Ichigo finally started the car, pulling out of the parking lot and heading toward their home. "No. It just makes you young. One day, you'll understand." _

_End Flashback_

...

...

...

Tsuyoshi sighed. This was boring. Rukia glanced away from her paperwork to glance at her protégé. "Bored?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Feel free to take some of this paperwork off my hands."

Tsuyoshi stretched out his body, lying on the floor of Rukia's office wasn't very comfortable. "I'm not that bored."

Rukia went back to her work. Until she was distracted by a shadow hovering over her work. "Yes?" She questioned irritably.

Tsuyoshi had vacated his position on the floor and was now leaning against her desk. "Why are we wasting time with paperwork? Shouldn't we be training so I'll be ready to fight the Aizens?"

"Tsuyoshi, this training is_ not_ so you can fight the Aizens. It is so you can defend yourself if you're attacked. You are no where near ready to fight any of the Aizens." Rukia clarified.

Tsuyoshi frowned. "I want to fight! I can help!"

Rukia put down her paperwork and focused completely on Tsuyoshi. "If you want to help, when everything goes down promise me you won't initiate any fights. If you're attacked, by all means defend yourself. But don't go looking for any fights. If we're all worried about you, we won't be at our best."

Tsuyoshi pouted. No one ever let him do anything. These people killed his little brother and everyone expected him to just sit around and hide? He could help! Besides Kaya, he was the only person that had inherited Kurosaki Ichigo's powers combined with his mother's defensive and healing techniques. He could be unstoppable if people would just take him seriously and help him train.

Rukia narrowed her eyes. "Tsuyoshi, promise me."

Tsuyoshi hesitantly made eye contact with Rukia. "I…promise." He crossed his fingers behind his back.

...

...

...

Tsuyoshi panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He leaned on his zanpakuto since he was having trouble standing.

Akihiro lowered his zanpakuto, taking a relaxed stance. "Maybe we should take a break." Akihiro suggested.

Tsuyoshi struggled to stand. "N…no. I'm..fine. We can…keep training." He wheezed out.

Akihiro lifted his zanpakuto once again, resting it precariously against his shoulder. "Why the sudden interest in training anyway?"

Tsuyoshi glared at his older brother. "It's not sudden. I've been training just as much and as hard as you have."

"I wasn't trying to insult you Tsuyoshi. It honestly just surprised me that you came to me to ask me to help you train." Akihiro explained.

Tsuyoshi regarded his brother somewhat warily. Sure, they didn't always get along, but he could still confide in him. He was his older brother after all.

"I came to you because I want to fight. And I know you want to fight too. No one else thinks we can do it. But I'm going to prove them all wrong." Tsuyoshi revealed.

Akihiro nodded, completely understanding Tsuyoshi's resolution. "In that case, come at me again."

"Koten Zanshun!" Tsuyoshi yelled, sending Jushu flying at his brother.

Akihiro deflected Jushu with his zanpakuto and then flash stepped behind Tsuyoshi. He was preparing to strike Tsuyoshi, but Tsuyoshi quickly flash stepped away and took an offensive stance, raising his zanpakuto. The brothers' zanpakutos clashed, sparks flying from the intensity.

"Eien no honō!" Akihiro released his bankai. Flames erupted from Honō, Akihiro's zanpakuto, and surrounded Tsuyoshi. The flames sizzled angrily as they grew and closed in on their target.

"Shiten Kōshon!" Tsuyoshi tried to defend, but he wasn't fast enough. Tsuyoshi collapsed on the floor, nursing his burns.

Akihiro immediately dropped his zanpakuto and rushed to his brother. "Shit. I'm sorry Yosh. I tried not to put too much power behind it. Are you okay?" Akihiro asked.

Tsuyoshi called forth his fairies to heal himself. "It's fine. Nothing I can't just reverse. But that was your bankai? It was awesome!" Akihiro smiled proudly. "You think you can help me get my bankai? Mom and Dad think I'm too young, but you don't think that, right Hiro?"

Akihiro looked conflicted. "I don't know Tsuyoshi. Bankai training is really rough and I don't want to go behind mom and dad's backs."

Tsuyoshi's grey eyes narrowed. "Or is it that you're afraid of how much stronger than you I'll be?"

Akihiro rolled his eyes. "No Tsuyoshi. I'm not worried about how much stronger you'll be than me."

"Then why won't you help me?! The stronger I am, the better chance of us winning." Tsuyoshi said.

"Winning? Yosh, this isn't about winning. It's not a game." Akihiro lectured.

"Whatever Akihiro! I know it's not a game. I'm not stupid! But we have to beat them. We're the good guys, and they're evil. This is bigger than just us. Who knows what the Aizens will do if we don't defeat them! I need my bankai! And I need your help!" Tsuyoshi yelled.

Akihiro looked his younger brother over from head to toe. After several moments of silence, he finally said "I don't know if I can teach you."

"But you'll try?" Tsuyoshi asked.

"I'll try." Akihiro affirmed.

Tsuyoshi smiled. "I'm ready. Let's start now!"

...

...

...

Tsuyoshi awoke with a start, sweating. The reiastsu was heavy and oppressive. It was their army. It was them. They were here. It was time.

His father rushed into his room carrying Kaya, who was still in her pajamas. In his shinigami robes and with the current expression on his face he resembled the grim reaper. His mom stumbled in behind him. She had changed into shinigami robes as well and was now gripping Ichigo's arm for support. She was trembling.

Ichigo gently set Kaya down before turning to his wife. He gripped both her arms and bent until they were eye level. "Orihime, listen to me. Everything is going to be okay. We are going to get through this. Okay?"

She nodded shakily. He kissed her forehead and wrapped her in his arms. He placed another kiss on the top of her head before releasing her.

Akihiro rushed into the room in his soul form, Honō in his hands. "What are we waiting for?" He asked when he saw his family assembled in Tsuyoshi's room.

"Orihime and I are going to the front lines. You guys are going to the 4th squad barracks. Kaya, Tsuyoshi, you're going to help heal the injured. And Akihiro, if anyone tries to enter the 4th squad barracks I'm counting on you to stop them."

"No!" Tsuyoshi yelled before clamoring out of bed. He took the substitute shinigami badge out of his father's hand and hit it to his chest. Now in his soul form, he looked resolutely at his parents. "I want to fight! I'm ready!"

Ichigo glared. "This is not negotiable. 4th Squad. Now."

...

...

...

End Chaoter 9! Sorry it took so long, but I hope you liked it! Thank you to favers, alerters, and my reviewers: XxFlameofDeathxX, naruhinasauluv, Ermilus, hapezibah, Reena, Xtremefairy, DeathBerryLover1995, and LuvleeCookieChan

What did you guys think? Please review to let me know!


	10. Chapter 10: Orihime II: Fear

A/N: Sorry I'm such a slow updater! But thank you to everyone that reviewed! You guys give me the motivation to write.

_*********************** 7 and a half years ago ************************_

_ She was scared. Despite the many videos she had watched and books she had read to prepare herself, now as she actually lay in the hospital bed preparing to give birth, she realized she was no where near prepared. _

_ Despite her inner feelings, outwardly she tried to remain calm. She couldn't let Ichigo know she was nervous. She glanced at him as he passed through her line of vision. He had been pacing for the last half an hour, only glancing up occasionally to cast a worried look her way. After what happened to Mari, he seemed to be convinced that Orihime would die today._

_ Normally, she would be reassuring her husband that she would be fine, but now that her contractions were getting stronger and the moment of truth was drawing near, she couldn't bring herself to make promises that she wasn't sure she could keep. _

_ The young soon-to-be first time mother curled into the fetal position as a particularly brutal contraction hit her. "Ichigo" She managed through a grimace. He was immediately at her side, gripping her hand tightly. His palms were sweating, but he tried to be brave for her and hide his own unease. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. With his free hand, he pushed hair off her sweaty face. "You're doing great. Just keep breathing." He glanced around to make sure the nurse was out of earshot. "Are you okay? His reiastsu keeps spiking."_

_ So he noticed it too. Well, of course he noticed. The baby's reiatsu was spiking with each contraction. And it hurt. Really bad. It felt a lot like when Ichigo would lose control of his hollow powers and allow his suffocating reiatsu to saturate the surrounding area. She didn't want to ask him, but she had to know. "Is this what is was like? For Mari?"_

_ He flinched at the reminder of the last time he had been in a delivery room. He hesitated before replying. "Honestly… Akihiro's reiatsu wasn't flaring this much. Or this strongly. Kami, why did we do this? I told you that this wasn't a good idea and-"_

_ She pulled him down to her level and placed a kiss on his still moving lips to cut him off. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. Soon, we'll have a healthy happy baby boy and I'm going to be fine. You'll see." She comforted. She wished she believed her own words. She had never been more scared about anything in her life. _

_ Ichigo released a shaky breath. "I love you Orihime." He sealed his confession with a kiss. _

_ Orihime shook her head. "Don't do that."_

_ "What?" He asked._

_ "Don't say goodbye to me. You being scared is scaring me. Just…just tell me everything is going to be okay. Even if you don't believe it, I just want you to tell me that everything is going to be fine. You always know how to make everything okay." She winced at how desperate she sounded. And at the fact that after all these years, she still has to rely on him to make her feel safe._

_ There was silence except for the beeping of the heart monitor the expectant mother was hooked up to. "Everything is going to be okay." He finally stated, this time with conviction. _

_ She looked up at her husband with teary eyes as another contraction overtook her petite frame. "Ichigo, it hurts." She confided. _

_ "You can do this. You're the strongest woman I know Orihime. You can do this." _

_ She took several calming breaths until the contraction passed. "I can do this." She repeated the mantra to herself in her mind until she actually believed it._

_..._

_..._

_.._

_._

Death. She was surrounded by death. Orihime forced herself not to gag as she hurried past another decapitated body on the streets of Rukongai. Kaya whimpered, and her father tightened his grip on the little girl in his arms.

"Don't look." He ordered as he pressed her face into his Shinigami robes. Kaya nodded shakily and tightened her grip on her father's neck.

The family continued to stealthily make their way to the 4th squad barracks. Ichigo was leading the way with Kaya in his arms. Behind him, Akihiro and Tsuyoshi jogged to keep pace. Orihime was bringing up the rear, making sure to keep an eye on the boys.

Orihime tried to stay focused on the task at hand, but she was having trouble concentrating. She was scared. Her children were here, and so were the Aizens. Yes, there were many shinigami here capable of keeping the kids safe, but no one knew what the Aizen siblings and their army were capable of. Judging by the many bodies littering the streets, they were willing to kill anyone and everyone who stood in their way. Furthermore, even if her children remained safe, she and Ichigo were heading for the front lines. They could die today, leaving their children as orphans.

Back when they were young, they risked their lives all the time. But back then they had no one that depended on them. When she had sacrificed herself and gone to Hueco Mundo, she had gone because she felt out of all her friends, she was the one who would be missed the least if she died. And like she told Ulquiorra, she wasn't afraid. If she died, she could finally be reunited with Sora in Rukongai. And her friends had come for her, they were all safe, she was happy.

But now things were different. She couldn't die. Not when she had children that depended on her. "Akihiro, look out!" Orihime shouted when a building suddenly started to collapse in close proximity to her eldest.

Before she could send her Shun Shun Rikka to protect him, Tsuyoshi beat her to it. Surprisingly, his shield held under the pressure of the heavy concrete. Tsuyoshi's skills had improved a lot over the summer. After Akihiro got out of the path of destruction, Tsuyoshi allowed the shield to fall. Orihime sighed with relief. Seeing the improvement in her children made her feel better about the entire situation. Hopefully there wouldn't be any fighting in the 4th squad barracks, but together Akihiro, Tsuyoshi, and Kaya would be able to protect themselves.

Orihime hurried to catch up to her sons, gripping both their hands before continuing to trail after Ichigo. They were about ¾ of the way to the 4th Squad barracks when a tremor shook the ground. The tremor was followed by a huge surge of reiatsu.

"Shit. That's him. Kato." Ichigo murmured. He carefully lowered Kaya to the ground.

"Okay, change of plans. Orihime, go with them to the 4th Squad barracks. I'm going to fight Kato."

"Ichigo, I don't want you to go alone." She countered.

"I'll be fine. I just need to know that you guys are out of harm's way. That way, I can fight without having to hold back."

"You don't know what you're dealing with Ichigo. You've only fought Kato once, you can't just rush in there with no back-up." She continued to argue with her husband.

"We don't have time for this. Go with them." He snapped before flash stepping away.

Orihime glared at his retreating back. She turned to her children. "Come on."

"Mom, you can go with him." Tsuyoshi suggested.

The auburn haired mother shook her head no. "Not until you guys are safely in the 4th Squad barracks."

"Tsuyoshi and I can flash step the rest of the way. I'll carry Kaya. It will be faster." Akihiro suggested.

Orihime pondered the suggestion for a moment. She alternated worriedly looking at her children and then off in the direction Ichigo had disappeared in. "Fine, but promise me that you'll be careful."

The boys nodded. Kaya climbed onto Akihiro's back piggy-back style and in the next moment they had disappeared. Orihime quickly followed the path Ichigo had taken.

...

...

..

.

By the time Orihime reached the center of Serentei, it looked as if the place had been hit with an atomic bomb. The mother of three frantically searched for her husband amongst the chaos.

A body crashed into the ground mere meters from where she stood, creating a crater when they landed. Orihime rushed over as the person moaned in pain. "Rangiku-san!" Orihime's healing shield immediately enveloped the busty blonde.

Rangiku groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you that Rangiku-san makes me feel old?"

"Are you okay? What's happening? Where is everyone?" Orihime rapidly shot off questions.

Rangiku gestured above the duo with a tilt of her head. "Ichigo led them all up there. I think he wanted to get them away from Seretei."

Rangiku didn't say it, but Orihime knew Ichigo had also decided to lead them so far up so she couldn't get involved. She felt a stab of irritation directed at her husband. He was always doing things like this. Making sure to protect her without thinking about himself at all. She hated that he felt that he always had to protect her. He thought she was weak. Useless.

She shook her head to get such trivial thoughts out of her mind. It didn't matter. She would have to do what she could from the ground. "Are all the Captains up there?" She asked Rangiku.

Rangiku sat up, her healing almost complete. She nodded. "And the vice captains. They've made a nice dent into the army, but no one has been able to reach the Aizens yet."

Another body crashed to the ground, followed by a second body moments later. Orihime finished healing Rangiku before running over to the new fallen bodies. She stopped abruptly. "…Oh my God." Tears streamed down her face soundlessly.

Directly in front of her, lay the two severed bodies of Yamamoto and Unohana. "They…they killed them." She whispered. Soul Society's leader was dead. The Aizens had already taken down the biggest threat in the way of their goal.

Everyone must have felt the loss of Yamamoto's and Unohana's reiatsu, because suddenly 3rd seat and lower shinigami poured out of their barracks to gather around the bodies.

Yumichicka approached Yamamoto's prone form. He bowed his head in respect before ceremonially closing Yamamoto's eyes with two fingers.

"The Captain Commander is dead?"

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"If they could kill him, they'll kill all of us!"

All the shinigami began talking over each other and panic gradually began to spread. "Everyone shut up!" All attention turned to Rangiku. "We will mourn the Captain Commander and Captain Unohana later. Right now, we have to work together to honor them by defeating the enemy."

A loud scoff was heard. Orihime glanced up. Mayuko calmly floated in the air, a small army dressed like ninjas in formation behind her. "What a moving speech. But just so you know, you won't beat us. I'm willing to be merciful and let you walk away if you release my brother peacefully. Or I could just kill all of you. Doesn't really make any difference to me personally."

Rangiku launched herself at Mayuko, prompting the other shinigami to start to take on the army.

One of the Aizen ninjas made a beeline for Orihime, a samurai sword in hand. Orihime went on the defensive, thwarting each of the samurai's attempts to slice her by quickly enacting her shield. She ducked as the ninja swung directly over her head. She then quickly swept her leg out in a roundhouse kick, tripping the ninja. Before he could regain his composure, Orihime sent Tsubaki to slice through the ninja's abdomen. He sputtered as blood rushed from the wound. Orihime averted her eyes guiltily as her enemy died.

She felt three familiar reiastsus. She whirled around to face her children. "What are you doing here?!" She asked frantically.

"The 4th division is gone." Akihiro explained.

"They felt Unohana-sama die, so some of them tried to rush out to see if there was anything they could do to help. But there was an army at the door. They tried to kill everyone. Hanataro led us out through an underground tunnel. We think Mayuri-san self destructed the 4th squad to kill the army." Tsuyoshi clarified.

"I don't want you guys here. This is too dangerous." Orihime muttered.

"I'm so sick of you guys constantly telling us what we can and can't do! We can help!" Tsuyoshi yelled.

A piercing growl echoed from far above. Orihime turned wide eyes to the sky at the familiar sensation. It had been years, but she would never forget this feeling. His hollow. It was back.

…..

….

…

..

.

A/N: End Chapter 10! Hope you guys liked! And please continue to review!

Reviewer Responses:

fsj101: I'm glad you like the story! And thank you for reviewing!

IchiHimeKurosaki: Awww, thank you! And don't worry, I never give up on stories. I am slow at updating, but they always get finished eventually.

Michiko Burel: Parents just don't understand :p

Sage of Downtown Hyrule: You reviewed every chapter, which made me day! Thank you for all the compliments!

Ermilus: Glad to be back! Thank you for reviewing!

DeathBerryLover1995: So..I didn't exactly update soon, but I hope you liked the chapter!

Xtremefairy: Thank you for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter too!


	11. Chapter 11: Ichigo II: Monster

A/N: Sorry for another late update, but without further ado here is chapter 11!

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~18 years ago~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_ He coughed up blood as Grimmjow's fifth blow entered his back. Shit. That had hurt. The shinigami/hollow hybrid glanced up at the girl he had just taken five super powered bullets for. Masking her emotions had never been Orihime's strong suit. At the moment, her palpable fear was clearly expressed through her big grey eyes. _

_ She was afraid of him. That hurt a lot more than his numerous physical injuries. He broke the eye contact and returned to the fight. Her fear lingered in the back of his mind. _

_ 'Of course she's afraid. When her brother became a hollow, he tried to kill her. She's afraid that I'm like him, that I'm not myself. She's afraid that I'll hurt her.' _

_ Grimmjow landed blow after blow as Ichigo's dark thoughts distracted him from the task at hand. Shit. He was losing. He caught a glimpse of Orihime's golden shield as he was launched into a pillar. The substitute shinigami belatedly realized that he was holding back. He didn't want to do this in front of her. If she was afraid of him now, what would she think if she saw exactly what kind of monster he could become with these new hollow powers?_

_ Grimmjow relented momentarily. Choosing to verbally berate him instead. That was fine. It gave him a moment to regroup, catch his breath. Suddenly, his mask cracked. Although this wasn't good for the fight, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved. He was returning to his human form. The hollow hadn't taken over. _

_ His relief was short lived. He couldn't defeat Grimmjow in his human form. And if he died, who would save Nel? Rukia? Chad? Renji? Ishida? Who would save Orihime? Resolve renewed, Ichigo attempted to continue to fight, but his efforts were futile against Grimmjow's new form. _

_ "Kurosaki!" Grimmjow screeched as he came at him, claws extended in what promised to be a killing strike. _

_ "Don't die Kurosaki-kun!" Her sudden call was accompanied by a wave of golden light. _

_ He turned to face her. She was crying. He had made her cry. A new wave of self-loathing overcame him. _

_ "I don't care whether you win or not. You don't have to keep trying." The tears continued to fall from her eyes. "Just please don't hurt yourself anymore than this." She concluded tearfully. _

_ He heard rather than saw Grimmjow coming. He gripped the hand that had meant to impale him. "Sorry Grimmmjow. Looks like I'm not allowed to take any more damage than this." _

_ He swung Zangetsu with renewed resolve, leaving a deep gash in Grimmjow's torso._

…_._

…_._

…

_.._

"Yamamoto!" Ichigo yelled as the captain commander was stabbed through the chest. Kato removed his sword from the captain commander's back as Yamamoto spit out blood. The shinigami captain looked down at the gaping hole in his chest.

Mayuko took advantage of everyone's distraction and flash stepped behind Captain Unohana, quickly stabbing her in the back as well.

Before either Shinigami could recover, they were cut in half by their respective attackers. Their severed bodies fell from the sky.

Ichigo watched them fall in a state of numb shock. Both shinigami seemed unbeatable in a head to head battle, but the Aizens were not fighting head-to-head.

Kato seemed to sense what Ichigo was thinking. He scoffed. "You think we should fight honorably. You think attacking an enemy from behind is cowardly, despicable."

Ichigo glared at the treacherous murderer, but gave no verbal response.

"I don't care about honor. I care about winning. We are here to free our brother and then to kill the Soul King. How we reach victory is not important to me at all. I will kill anyone and anything standing in my way. And I will kill them however I have to." Kato explained.

"That's why you won't beat us. You're afraid to fight dirty. You want a fair fight. We don't fight fair. We'll kill men, women, and children without any shame." Mayuko added.

Ichigo had noticed his children's spiritual pressures approaching from below and he recognized the thinly veiled threat in Mayuko's words. Ichigo took an offensive stance, raising Zangetsu. "You'll have to go through me first."

"We don't need to be enemies Kurosaki-san. We can work together. Why would you risk your life and your family's lives for Soul Society?" Kato questioned.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "I don't need to explain anything to you." He growled.

"Then let's kill him!" Mayuko suggested, raising her zanpakuto.

"I'll deal with him. " Kato declared. Mayuko's eyes narrowed. Kato wasn't her superior. She didn't have to take orders from him. "Take some of the army and go down to the ground. Kill his wife first. We don't want her healing everybody and prolonging this fight." Kato finished.

Mayuko grinned. Well, she didn't mind following that order. She saluted cheekily. "Ay ay captain." Mayuko dashed towards Orihime and the shinigami assembled down below.

Ichigo immediately made a move to go after her, but Kato blocked his path.

"If you want to get down there, you'll have to go through me first."

"Gladly." Ichigo's irises became flooded with black as he began his hollow transformation. He let out an inhuman howl as his hair grew and the mask extended over his face.

…

….

…

..

.

Kato narrowly dodged another strike from the hollow/shinigami hybrid. This was not the same Kurosaki beast that he had studied from Hueco Mundo. It was faster, stronger, more beast-like.

Kato groaned as Ichigo's zanpakuto connected, leaving a deep gash in his side. He flash stepped away before the beast could follow up his strike, but the beast followed and he was forced on the defensive again.

This was not going to plan at all. The large army had managed to hold off the other shinigami thus far, but their numbers were dwindling. And quickly. Kato was a planner, a strategist, and he had thought he had known how this fight would go. He had observed Kurosaki Ichigo for years before making his move. He hadn't seen the vizards in years, he hadn't met with Urahara for any extended period of time. So why had the hollow developed?

Kato hissed as the beast's nails dug into his face. He flash stepped away, but his face was bleeding heavily. Kato raised a hand to his face and it became coated in his warm blood. Shit.

Kato launched a Kido spell, knowing that Kurosaki's weakest point was Kido. The spell exploded when it reached his target and the hollow's scream reverberated over the battlefield.

Why was he so much stronger? Kato looked below. Rangiku was now fighting an army ninja, leaving Mayuko free to attack Orihime. In a one-on-one fight, Mayuko could have easily killed the beautiful healer, even with her new training. But it wasn't a one-on-one fight. The Kurosaki children were all trying to defend their mother. Kaya and Tsuyoshi launched shield after shield every time Mayuko tried to attack. And Akihiro was fighting off any army member who tried to intervene by attacking his siblings.

Orihime herself had taken the offensive, managing to wound Mayuko with Tsubaki. But the wounds were minor and Mayuko seemed to be more irritated than hurt. She was getting more and more vicious. She actually sent a lethal kido spell at Akihiro's turned back, but Tsuyoshi managed to enact a shield in time to stop it.

Kato quickly refocused his attention on his enemy. He had just felt something interesting. When Akihiro had been in danger, the hollow/shinigami's reiatsu had dropped sharply. With Akihiro out of harm's way, his reiatsu had rebounded, as if the beast had new resolve.

He was drawing strength from them. This primitive beast was fighting him solely to protect them. The hollow launched at him again, Zangetsu poised to kill. Kato grinned. Well, now he had a new idea.

"Army, self-destruct," Kato instructed. The remaining army all blew up, fire raising into the sky.

The hollow stopped, startled by the sudden explosion, and then looked down as he waited to see his family through the dissipating smoke.

Orihime had quickly enacted a shield around her and their children. Kaya was coughing as the smoke cleared but they seemed fine. Orihime allowed her shield to fall as she surveyed the damage.

The explosion had killed many lower shinigamis, and many higher shinigamis were temporarily out of commission, bleeding on the ground and in desperate need of medical attention.

The beast raised his head after surveying the damage and looked for Kato, who had disappeared. The beast growled as he stalked his prey.

Suddenly, he heard a loud whistle. Kato was down on the ground, holding his Zanpakuto to Tsuyoshi's throat.

Kato coughed, and spit out some blood. He paused for a moment before continuing. "It seems like you are deriving strength from your family. In that case, it makes sense to kill them before I kill you."

…..

….

…

..

.

End Chapter 11! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and alerted! I think there is only one more chapter so I'll try to get it out soon. Please review and let me know what you guys think!


	12. Chapter 12: Everything Comes to an End

A/N: Last chapter! Thank you guys for sticking through this story with me and for all your encouraging words.

_~~~~~~~~~~5 and a half years ago~~~~~~~~~_

_ "Stop kicking me Tsuyoshi!" Tsuyoshi ignored him, continuing to kick his legs irritably. Apparently, the fussy toddler did not appreciate the footie pajamas their grandfather had purchased for him. Since the two boys were currently sharing their father's childhood bed, each irritated kick hit his older brother. Akihiro wished he could retaliate with a swift kick of his own, but since he was bigger than Tsuyoshi he held himself back. Tsuyoshi kicked him again, and Akihiro's eyes narrowed dangerously. _

_ Isshin chose a great moment to re-enter the room, since Akihiro's patience was waning. "I found it boys!" Isshin happily plopped himself beside Tsuyoshi on the bed. He gingerly opened the book he was holding. "This was your Aunt Yuzu's favorite story growing up. And even though Karin tried to hide it, I think she liked it too." _

_ Isshin read excitedly, giving each of the characters their own distinct voice. Tsuyoshi giggled excitedly every time Isshin flipped the book around to show the illustrations to the two brothers. By the time Isshin reached the end of the tale, Tsuyoshi was fast asleep. Isshin kissed his sleeping grandchild on the head before turning his attention to Akihiro._

_ "You know Hiro, you worry a lot for a 5 year old. Always so serious. Your worry is written all over your face. It will give you wrinkles. Don't you want to grow up to be as handsome and youthful as your pop-pop? Here's the secret. I never worry."_

_ Akihiro frowned. Everyone was always telling him he was too serious. Maybe they just weren't serious enough. "Why are Mom and Dad still at the hospital? Kaya was born two days ago. When are they coming home?" _

_ Isshin smiled and ruffled his grandson's dark hair. "Everything is fine. Mom and baby are doing great."_

_ Akihiro was not pacified. "Then why are they still in the hospital? When Tsuyoshi was born, we all went home the next morning."_

_ Isshin sighed, seeing Akihiro wasn't going to be satisfied without a full story. "Orihime-chan is fine. You know that, you got to see her right after your baby sister was born. But the birth was…complicated. She's just tired. And the hospital wants her to stay for a few days to watch her. But everyone is fine. They'll probably be here in the morning to take you guys home." Isshin choked back a sob. "And then I'll be all alone again!" Akihiro rolled his eyes as his grandfather began to cry hysterically, obviously an attempt to change the subject. _

_ Isshin hopped off the bed. "Goodnight Akihiro." He said through his tears, turning out the lights and shutting the door behind him. _

_ Akihiro stared up at the ceiling and continued to worry. What felt like hours later, he finally fell asleep. _

…_._

…

_.._

_._

_ Akihiro was awoken several hours later when he heard hushed voices coming from the kitchen. Tsuyoshi snored softly beside him, so he carefully and quietly left the bed. Akihiro was equally cautious with the door, not wanting to alert the adults of his entrance or his brother of his exit. _

_ Akihiro quietly snuck to the stairs, sitting on the top step where he could see into the kitchen but they hopefully wouldn't be able to see him. He crouched down, gripping the stair banister and peeking through the gaps. _

_ Ichigo was sitting at the table, newborn Kaya in his arms. He was feeding her bottled breast milk. Isshin returned to the kitchen, two cups of coffee in his hands. He placed one in front of his son. "Thanks." Ichigo said, placing the now empty bottle on the table and reaching for the coffee. _

_ Isshin held out his arms for the baby, and Ichigo gingerly passed her over. Isshin grinned at the baby and cooed lovingly. "She is beautiful! Looks just like her mommy! And those big green eyes!"_

_ Ichigo grinned as he sipped on his coffee. "Hope she doesn't end up looking too much like Orihime. I don't want to be forced to kill anybody, but if she gets a boyfriend I might have to."_

_ Isshin continued to coo over his newest grandchild. "Five grandchildren already! I don't know what is taking Karin so long to settle down, but you and Yuzu are off to a fine start!"_

_ "Well, based on how this birth went, this is probably the last grandchild you're getting from me."_

_ Akihiro perked up. What had happened during the birth? When he and Tsuyoshi had visited their mom and new sister directly after the birth, they had both seemed fine. _

_ "So, what exactly happened?" Isshin asked, bouncing the new baby when she started to get fussy. _

_Ichigo ran a hand through his messy hair. "The reiatsu was insane. More than Akihiro's and Tsuyoshi's. Combined."_

_Akihiro's eyes widened._

"_It was so much, it was suffocating. I thought she was going to die. I thought all of us were going to die." Ichigo continued. _

"_But you didn't." Isshin pointed out. _

"_No, because of the Shun Shun Rikka. They came out without Orihime telling them to. She was in no condition to do anything. I don't know exactly what they did. Some kind of rejection. I think they rejected her powers. It took a lot out of Orihime to do whatever they did. She is exhausted, even now. But she'll be okay. The hospital has cleared her to leave tomorrow morning."_

"_Was this rejection permanent?" Isshin asked._

"_I don't know. I can still feel that she has reiatsu now, but at a much lower level, a normal level."_

"_And…how do you feel about all this?" The Kurosaki patriarch asked his only son. _

_Ichigo placed his head in his hands. "I'm not sure. There are a lot of things to consider. On one hand, she could do a lot of good with that kind of power. Soul Society is always facing some crisis or another. She could help. She could do a lot of good here too. No hollow would ever be able to challenge her. She could save a lot of people."_

"_I sense a 'but' coming…." Isshin interjected. _

"_But I don't want her to be forced into that life."_

"_Like you were." Isshin added sadly. _

"_I wasn't forced. I wanted this. I mean…I want this...I don't know anymore. I just have a hard time imagining my little girl living my life. It's different with the boys. And I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, trust me, I know there are plenty of women who could kick my ass. But I want to protect her. I don't want her to ever have to fight. It's pretty much the same way I feel about Orihime. I know she can fight, but I don't want her to. Am I making any sense?"_

_Isshin smirked. "Not really. But I understand. I have little girls too you know."_

_Ichigo stood. "I should get the kids home."_

"_Why don't you just all stay here for the night? I can help with the baby." Isshin offered. _

"_Thanks, but all Kaya's stuff is set up in the nursery at home." Ichigo replied. _

"_What do you really need besides milk," he gestured to the diaper bag full of milk on the table, "and a crib? I've got a crib up in the attic that I would happily go get."_

"_Okay." Ichigo relented. "I'm pretty exhausted anyway so getting everyone out of here would have been a hassle."_

_Akihiro quietly snuck away before anyone caught sight of him spying. _

…_.._

…

_.._

Akihiro sliced through another ninja with Honō, his flame based zanpakuto. They kept coming. How many were there?

He glanced behind him. Kaya and Orihime had created some type of two-layered shield. It was quickly extending into a dome that was meant to encase the mother and her children. Mayuko snarled as the shield closed, raising both hands to smash against it. Orihime's shield was on the outside, and the force of Mayuko's blow was redirected at her, sending her flying away.

Akihiro experimentally touched the shield, but quickly retracted his hand when he was burned. Ouch. He knew from experience not to touch his mother's shield, but wasn't this inner shield Kaya's? Since when could her shields keep him in?

He briefly pondered why the Kurosaki women had suddenly enacted this shield, but he quickly got his answer when he saw the ninja army exploding just outside the shield. The shinigamis not encased in the shield took defensive stances and protected themselves from the fiery hell Kato had just unleashed.

If Akihiro hadn't been paying close attention, he would have missed it. But he was paying attention. And he saw Tsuyoshi running toward the shield.

"Tsuyoshi, don't!" Akihiro screamed, reaching out a hand in vain as if he could stop his younger brother.

Since Tsuyoshi was Orihime's biological child who had inherited her powers, he had no trouble passing through both layers of the shield, zanpakuto raised in an offensive stance.

Mayuko had not been forewarned about the self-destructing army, so she was currently on the floor coughing and trying to clear the smoke from around her.

She was vulnerable, and it was the perfect time to attack. And Tsuyoshi saw that and ran with it.

He launched himself in the air and raised his zanpakuto high in the air. "AAAHHH!" The 7 year old prepared to strike, but just before he would have reached the Aizen sister, he was tackled to the ground by the Aizen brother.

Kato coughed out blood and raised his gaze to Hollow Ichigo, who was still floating in the air where Kato had left him. "It seems like you are deriving strength from your family. In that case, it makes sense to kill them before I kill you." Kato threatened, slightly pressing his blade into Tsuyoshi's throat where a small trickle of blood began to fall.

The hollow let out an inhuman screech, but didn't advance on Kato. It seemed Ichigo must have still been in there enough to know that if he attacked Kato now, Tsuyoshi would die.

Kato smirked, pleased that he had bought himself some time. He could kill the boy, but then the hollow might attack to kill out of revenge. His best chance was if he could somehow kill the entire family at once, and then hope the grief would debilitate the hollow. But with that irritating shield up, that would be difficult.

"Lower your shield." Kato ordered, keeping his zanpakuto close to Tsuyoshi's neck.

Kato correctly deciphered the look on Orihime's face to mean she distrusted him. "You are in no position to question me. Drop your shield now or I'll cut his head off. If you drop your shield, that could buy him a few minutes." Kato continued.

Orihime reluctantly dropped her shield, Kaya following suit a few seconds later.

Kato smirked. "Good choice."

Mayuko, having recovered from the unexpected explosion, now joined her brother, regarding the Kurosaki family with hate. "What are we waiting for? Let's kill them." She suggested.

"Hasty as always. That Hollow is strong. If we start picking off his family one by one, he will retaliate before we could kill more than two." Kato explained.

"So, what's your plan then?" Mayuko asked.

"I'm working on it. With his son in danger, he's not a threat. So just shut up and let me think." Kato rebutted.

Mayuko huffed and irritably crossed her arms over her chest.

The battle appeared to be at a standstill. But what Kato hadn't accounted for was the now unoccupied shinigami captains and vice captains.

Ukitake launched himself at Kato, catching the invader off guard. Ukitake forcefully pushed Tsuyoshi away while Kato swung, striking a fatal blow upon Ukitake.

"NOOOOOOO!" Kaya screamed, immediately rushing to Ukitake's side as he lay dying. Akihiro followed his younger sister, intent on protecting her since she seemed too distraught to pay attention to what was now happening around them.

Hollowfied Ichigo flash stepped directly in front of Kato. With Tsuyoshi out of the way, he was now fighting ferociously, trying to end this before anyone else died. Mayuko was singlehandedly keeping the rest of the shinigamis out of it, launching some kind of binding kido spell that prevented them from moving forward. Keeping so many of them bound was obviously taking a toll on her though, as her face was contorted in pain and she was unable to continue her quest to kill Orihime.

"Ukitake-san, please don't die. I can fix it….. I can fix you…. PLEASE!" Kaya could barely get the words out between her sobs.

Ukitake put on a brave smile for Kaya. "Kaya-chan, let me go. It's…it's my time. I'm just…glad I was…able to protect Tsuyoshi-chan. And…I'm glad….you're okay." His breath was quickly becoming shallow and he coughed up blood.

Tears continued to fall from her eyes. "No. You're not supposed to die Ukitake-san. The good guys are supposed to win. It's….it's not fair. And I reject it!" Kaya's fairies emerged from her birthmark.

They circled Ukitake but didn't do anything. "What are they waiting for?" Kaya mumbled to no one in particular.

Akihiro knelt beside his sister, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He's already gone Kaya. You can't bring him back from the dead."

"No, I can! And I will!" Kaya closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, urging her fairies to undo the injury.

Akihiro tightened his grip on her shoulder. "You _can't _Kaya. It would be wrong. You have to let it go."

"I WON"T!" An amazing burst of power suddenly rushed out from the small girl. Akihiro was blown back from the sheer force of the power. He clenched his arm that had been touching Kaya in pain. It was broken in several places.

Tsuyoshi rushed over. Shaken from the consequences of his prior rash actions, he was now content to stay within his mother's newly constructed shield. He called forth his own fairies and began to fix Akihiro's damaged arm. "What is she doing?!" He yelled, since Kaya's power burst was now creating some kind of loud windstorm.

"I don't know!" Akihiro yelled back, watching Kaya worriedly.

…..

…

..

'_Focus. I need to focus. I can do this. Ukitake-san isn't supposed to die. And he won't. I'm going to save him_. _I can do this. My fairies are going to start moving any second now, and they are going to save Ukitake-san.'_

Kaya focused intently on the task at hand. She ignored the sounds of her father battling Kato outside the shield. Finally, a fairy moved in front of her, but not the one she was looking for.

She flinched as the tiny fairy kicked her in the face. She looked at him with watery eyes as she held her hand to her cheek. "Tsubaki-kun…..you're mean."

"And you're acting like an idiot!" Her mother's offensive fairy retorted.

Kaya frowned. "Shouldn't you be helping Mommy?"

Tsubaki scoffed. "You need my help a lot more than she does. Stop. He's dead and you can't bring him back."

Kaya squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the truth in his words. "NO!"

Tsubaki frowned. "Kaya, listen to me. Don't let his death be in vain."

Silent tears streamed down her face, but she tried to calm herself and listen to Tsubaki.

"You can end this." He concluded.

"Me? But…I'm the weakest. If I can't even heal Ukitake-san, then how-"

"You're not weak. You're more powerful than you can imagine. Your resolve is what is weak." He let out an irritated sigh. "Just like your mother. But that stops now. When you were born, we repressed your power. Now, we are going to unleash them."

"Unleash them?" Kaya echoed.

"Yes, but after repressing your powers for so long, this sudden unleashing will result in the loss of your powers. This will be the Final Koten Zanshun."

"Final? I won't have powers ever again?" Kaya questioned. Being powerless didn't really bother her considering she rarely used her powers as it was, but the finality was a little unsettling for a 5-year-old.

"You won't have powers ever again while you're alive." Tsubaki explained.

"But…I won't be able to help people anymore." Kaya mumbled, mostly to herself.

"You'll be able to help a lot of people right now." Tsubaki corrected.

Kaya had been looking down at the ground, where dust was being picked up from the storm swirling around her, but now she raised her head resolutely. "Ok, let's do it."

...

…

..

Orihime worriedly watched as her husband's battle with Kato intensified. Ichigo was releasing a lot of energy. And since he tried not to use his hollow form often, she was worried about how long he could stay in that form. It appeared her worry was founded, because Kato flash stepped above Ichigo and managed to cut off his left horn. Orihime gasped as the mask started to crack. Ichigo flash stepped away, but the damage was already done.

But Orihime had other things to worry about besides her husband. Suddenly, her shield went down. She gasped before glancing to her right and seeing that her fairies were surrounding her daughter.

Tsuyoshi and Akihiro rushed to her side.

"Mom, something is wrong with Kaya." Akihiro's concern was evident in his voice.

Tsuyoshi put up a triangular shield in front of the three. "What are we gonna do?" He asked.

Any answer Orihime would have given was interrupted when Ichigo let out a pain filled scream. She whipped her gaze from her sons to her husband. He was down on his knees clutching his stomach, where Kato had just blasted him with a Kido spell. Kato panted and was bleeding heavily, but he was still standing. He started to stagger toward Ichigo, who was slowly returning to his human form.

"No!" Orihime shouted, starting to run out to her husband although her fairies were still occupied. She was stopped by a strong gust of wind. Orihime lifted her arms to cover her face as Tsuyoshi and Akihiro stayed behind Tsuyoshi's shield. The gust was so strong it blew Ichigo back toward his family and away from Kato. Tsuyoshi temporarily redirected his shield to catch his father.

Orihime felt her fairies return to her hairpins. She immediately started to heal her husband, who was now safely behind Tsuyoshi's shield. Ichigo was beginning to lose consciousness, but he managed to peer at his daughter through the golden healing dome that surrounded him. "What…is she…doing?" He asked his family members.

Orihime worriedly looked at Kaya as well. The youngest Kurosaki was floating and golden energy surrounded her. "I don't know." She finally responded.

The golden light intensified to the point where it was so bright it was painful to look at. Akihiro tried to keep his eyes on Kaya as long as possible, but when his eyes started to burn he was forced to close them.

Kaya had been floating in a state of moderate tranquility, but now her eyes flew open. Instead of their normal green color, her eyes had turned as golden as the power now engulfing her. She let out an ear-piercing scream and the energy began to dissipate from its' concentrated state around her.

Kato and Mayuko threw their hands up to guard themselves from the golden light, but it was futile. Kaya was rejecting their very existence. They were unraveling. Kato looked down at his hands as they began to disappear. "No. No! The Soul King must be destroyed! He is a tyrant! He is not good for Soul Society or your precious material world. Stop what you're doing! You'll regret this. You'll all regret this. NOOO!" Kato's screams cut off abruptly as he completely disappeared.

Kaya dropped to the ground, her sobs loud and heart breaking. Ichigo struggled up to a seated position. "Stop. Let me heal you first." Orihime pleaded.

Ichigo shook his head. "She needs me right now."

Orihime allowed the dome to disappear, and Ichigo staggered over to his only daughter. He knelt beside her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Kaya."

She launched herself into his arms, and he wrapped his arms around her despite the agonizing pain from his ribs. "Daddy! I didn't mean to kill them. I…I just wanted them to stop. Now, I'm a murderer. I'm a bad person. I'm-"

"Shhh." Ichigo interrupted, rubbing her back comfortingly. "You're not a bad person. You saved a lot of people. Honey, please stop crying. Everything is going to be okay." He wiped some of her tears away as they fell from her eyes.

"Everything is not going to be okay. Ukitake-san-" Kaya stopped and looked around frantically. "Where is Ukitake-san?"

Ichigo frowned. Ukitake's dead body was lying right in front of them. "You don't see him?" He asked hesitantly.

Kaya shook her head no. The Shinigami captain and vice captains started to approach, but Kaya didn't react to them either. Because she couldn't see them.

"Kaya, what did you do?" Ichigo asked gently.

"Tsubaki-kun said it was the Final Koten Zanshun." Kaya explained.

Ichigo felt a whirlwind of emotions at the news that Kaya had lost her powers. But the strongest was relief. She could be normal now. She wouldn't be targeted by psychopaths like the Aizens. He absorbed the news silently.

"Kaya, let's go home." Ichigo finally said.

"Back to the 13th squad barracks?" She asked, her tears beginning to subside.

"No. Home to Karakura." Ichigo looked at the Shinigamis gathered around him. "I'm retiring. I can be a Shinigami Captain when I'm dead. Now, I'm ready to live."

…..

…

..

.

_7 years later_

Ichigo loaded the last box into the van. He shut the trunk and wiped some sweat from his brow before heading to the front of the van and hitting the horn several times. "Come on! We're already an hour behind schedule!" Ichigo yelled.

Akihiro appeared at the door first, carrying a backpack and one last box of personal items. He threw his stuff into the car before heading back toward the house.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked his eldest.

"Getting some food. It's a long drive to Tokyo." Akihiro replied, disappearing into the house.

Kaya was the next one out the door. The tween was texting on her pink cell phone and she didn't even glance at her father before getting into the car. Ichigo rolled his eyes. She was always on the phone.

Tsuyoshi dragged his feet all the way to the car. "Why do I have to go?" He whined.

Ichigo glared. "Your brother is going to college. Don't you want to see him off?"

Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes. "Not really." He answered before climbing into the van, going to the back and turning on his iPod. Ichigo shook his head. Teenaged Tsuyoshi was a nightmare. He kind of reminded him of himself at his age, but more disrespectful.

Orihime was the next out the door, their two-year-old son Jūshirō in her arms. Jūshirō was named after Captain Ukitake, who they would forever be grateful to. She smiled at her husband and gave him a quick peck, handing the orange-haired baby over.

"And where are you going?" Ichigo asked, shifting Jūshirō onto his hip as his wife headed back inside the house. No one seemed to realize that they were in a hurry.

"I made everyone lunch! I'm just going to put it in some tuber ware and-"

"No!" Ichigo quickly interrupted. She was a wonderful mother and wife, but she always cooked the most disgusting concoctions. Orihime frowned at the vehemence of his denial. "I mean- wouldn't it be fun to stop at a restaurant? How often do we go out to eat? And then dinner in Tokyo!" He finished.

Orihime smiled. "Great idea honey!"

Ichigo smiled too, glad that he had gotten out of eating Orihime's food. Ichigo placed Jūshirō into his car seat, buckling him in and kissing his forehead.

Akihiro returned, chewing on an energy bar. Before the family could finally be on their way, a loud roar sounded. A large hollow approached the car and attempted to take a bite out of it, but his jaws ran into a golden shield. Tsuyoshi had enacted a shield in the nick of time. Meanwhile, spiritually unaware Kaya continued to text.

Ichigo didn't bother changing into his shinigami form. Akihiro could handle this. This was proven when the hollow let out a howl and dissipated. Akihiro landed and smirked cockily. Last hollow kill in Karakura for a while, but soon he would take on Tokyo. He quickly got back into his body and got into the car.

"Hey Dad, can I drive?" Akihiro asked.

"Absolutely not." Orihime responded.

"Come on Mom, I have my license." Akihiro complained.

"You just got your license. And you're still on driving punishment for crashing the motorbike." Ichigo reminded him, backing out of the driveway.

Akihiro crossed his arms irritably. "Well, luckily for me in 5 hours I won't live under your roof and I won't have to follow your rules."

Tsuyoshi scoffed. "Yeah right. They're paying your tuition so you'll still have to listen to their rules."

"No one asked you Tsuyoshi." Akihiro retorted.

Kaya gasped, interrupting what could have turned into another brotherly fight. "Daiki just texted me and asked if I wanted to go to a movie!" She exclaimed giddily.

Ichigo almost crashed the car. "He WHAT?! You're 12! No boys until college!"

"That's not fair! Yoshi-nii has a girlfriend!" Kaya complained.

Orihime gasped. "He does?! Why haven't we met her? Are you embarrassed of us Tsuyoshi-kun?" Orihime was obviously on the verge of tears.

Tsuyoshi groaned. "Thanks Kaya." He said sarcastically.

Ichigo sighed. These kids were going to kill him. Not hollows or arrancars. These kids.

…

….

…

..

.

A/N: The End! And finished in less than a year. Probably not a big deal for most, but a record for me! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and alerted!


End file.
